Sonic X the Movie: Dragon Blood
by Kojiokida2
Summary: Someone called Blaze is waging a one mobian war against G.U.N and the military’s just about ready pull a security crackdown on all Mobians. Can Sonic stop this Blaze character, or is there more to this then what meets the eye? Finished.
1. Prologue

I do not own Sonic X etc...

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Well here it is. I'm glad so many people liked my previous fics so here's my movie fic. This could be the end of my Sonic X series, but I'm toying with the idea of carying on anyway.

Updates are gonna be slow at first.

It's probably a good idea to read my other Sonic X fics before as this follows on from them... so, let's get on with it...

* * *

Bandits, rebels, guerrilla fighters; G.U.N had it coming from all directions. But since the new controllers of the law, the Hexagon organisation weren't being targeted they did nothing to chance the situation. The army kept marching out to unite the factions fighting with each other all over the planet. Before too long most of the Earth would be under their direct control, which couldn't come at a better time. 

The threat of invasion by hostile aliens proved a very good motivator for the public. The average citizen was scared out of their skin and complied with everything they being told to do. Lock their doors at night, obey the curfew, hand over their weapons, support the troops…that sort of thing. People didn't like those new rules but since it was the G.U.N peacekeepers enforcing them those that made them up didn't get flamed in the media. The invasion threat was also very good for business. The economy always functioned best in war time and thanks to the constant state of warfare produced by Doctor Eggman, Metal X and the Black Arms military hardware technology had been pushed beyond all expectations and Hexagon was on the forefront. The northern hemisphere had been fortified with forests of ground to orbit guns, at least in the regions G.U.N had reclaimed dominance and thanks to salvage operations of crashed Black Arms ships new technology would soon be on the way.

True they had not been successful in locating the Blue Typhoon and it's crew that deserted from the G.U.N fleet but all in all, Hexagon was having a very good time.

So of course when one of their depot's came under attack it caught them completely off guard. In the dead of night a single intruder with speed the likes of which baffled their security robots tore through the front entrance and began ripping it's way through the entire complex, hardly leaving a single defender standing. Fleets of squad cars and vans marked 'SWAT' were tearing their way through the streets towards the depot almost instantly while G.U.N deployed a Yahger Mech to investigate.

Searchlights from choppers darted from left to right over the ground as several of them circled in the sky above. The devastation caused in such a short amount of time was unbelievable. Crumbled buildings lay everyway, piles of bricks and crushed robots were scattered across the compound. Small fires were burning in patches everywhere as the only other sources of light.

"This is headquarters, chopper five report." The voice on the radio barked and the pilot reached for the com.

"This Chopper five, have arrived at scene." He replied while another G.U.N member leaned out the side door with a camera. By now the cops had arrived at the entrance and were quickly setting up a perimeter to corner off the area from the public while the Swat police quickly advanced into the rubble to check it out. "Reporting back complete devastation…" He didn't get a chance to say anything else. Coming out of the darkness below a black shape smashed head first into the underside of their chopper causing it to tilt to the side violently. The man in the rear staggered back as the tip of a long sword lanced up through the metal floor to almost impale his foot. "May day, MAY DAY!"

Chaos erupted again as the chopper came down hard against the ground, exploding on impact into a fire storm. The parachutes from the pilots open up in the sky as those who had jumped off in time floated to safety. The swat police looked off in that direction, several of their number running over armed with heavy machine guns. They all froze as out of the flames came a dark shape; the blade of a long sword glinting brightly at it's size. Mobian in shape, it was apparently feminine and sleek and streamline; a long feline tail swaying out behind it.

"Open fire!" Someone yelled and instantly the air was lit up with bullets. The mobian brought it's sword up and deflected off some of the bullets with single motions of the blade before darting swiftly to the right and behind some debris from the chopper. With the stealth of the darkest shadows, it run through the fiery rubble using the obstacles around to their fullest effect to deflect the projectiles. Before the swat could do anything, the mobian was coming in hard for the attack .Their armour and shields and even some of the new protective technology Hexagon had developed for them did nothing as the tip of a sword lanced through one of their number running him through. Blood flew out into the air before the body collapsed to the ground. The weapon he was holding was scoped up in a second and used to slam bullets through several heads at once, the mobian showing that it was a trained marksman.

Those that could drew back to behind a row of squad cars at the entrance. Those unlucky few who didn't were brought down by streams of bullets and slashes with a blade. Finally when it was over, a total of seven men lay dead on the ground with their killer standing over their corpses. With contempt and without much further use for it, the mobian tossed the gun aside.

A loud hissing from thrusters erupted through the air and behind the police barricade one of G.U.N's Mech's landed with a loud thud. The Yahger reared itself up on mechanical bi-pedal legs and towered into the sky. Just above the cockpit a set of lights rose up from a sealed compartment and a search light cast down onto the ground lancing out of the gloom to fall on the mobian standing there. Revealed in the light the police could see it was a cat. A pair of sharp yellow eyes glared without blinking once at the humans behind the cars. The fur was faint purple and darkened at the end of the tail and the head. In the centre of the forehead was a single red jewel no bigger than a finger tip, the surface of the tiny gem stone sparkling brightly in the intense light. She was obviously a girl as her figure revealed. She was dressed in tight fitting leather armour with metallic straps across her arms and legs.

"You are under arrest." The voice of the walker's pilot boomed out as a pair of machine gun turrets on the underside of the cockpit pivoted around to point directly at her. "Drop the weapon and put your hands behind your head now!" The female cat simply smirked, before sheathing her sword in the scabbard strapped across her back. Swiftly she drew her hands together and arched her fingers around one another, muttering almost silently some incantation. Then she simply disappeared completely, vanishing from sight.

The next second she reappeared out of nothing in the space above the Yahger Mech. She landed silently on the metallic surface, catching the corner of one of the missile launcher pads to steady herself. Her free hand she held out and instantly the sword flew out of it's scabbard and the hilt connected to her waiting hand. "Holy SHIT!" The pilot exclaimed as the cat sliced open the top of the Mech with a single swipe. Once a sizable hole had been carved, her eyes glowed bright yellow like a distant star and some invisible force picked the pilot up like a rag doll and dragged him up into the air. Outside the confines of his Walker the pilot was completely defenceless.

"Now listen here Ape." She spoke, tightening her hand into a fist. The pilot felt a constricting pressured around his throat, cutting off his air supply. "You tell your masters they brought this on themselves. Unless they return the Arcanum then I'm going to keep hurting them and there's not a thing they can do to stop me." She snarled at him angrily, a pair of fangs glinting in the star light. "Do you understand?" The pilot wasn't able to answer, he was struggling at whatever was strangling him but with his fingers clawing at air it was futile. His face slowly turning blue. "Good." Without a second thought, she tossed him violently off the side of his own Mech and down towards the police below; before disappearing completely.

Without someone at the controls, the Yahger Mech creaked forward before finally toppling over completely. The police had just enough time to run before the Walker cast it's shadow over their squad cars, coming crashing down on top of them. Flames bellowed up into the air, a pillar of smoke slowly rising up towards the stars.

"Back up, requesting Chopper backup!" One of the officers on the ground yelled into the radio on one of the few cars felt in one piece.

"Hey sergeant look!" A voice called over. Some of the swat were looking over a patch of flames on the floor. Someone had drawn something in the ground with a sharp object. Defined grooves running through the tarmac. Blood from the fallen men was running into it and now written in blood was the word….

-

****

'Blaze'

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S.O.N.I.C GO!

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S.O.N.I.C GO!

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GO, GO, GO, GO, LET'S GO

-

Breaking the rules up until yesterday,

today being just generally loose,

With a punk philosophy,

saying to no longer run

towards the best goal,

that there is no meaning elsewhere.

With my biorhythm doubled,

the scenery is just countless lines

as the wind surrounds me.

I don't want to be

attacking Inside, Outside,

surpassing absolutely everything,

leaving nobody and nothing ahead.

Inside Outside GO! SONIC!

Absolutely Everything Yes! SONIC!

"Look Out!" and "Have a Nice"

the difference is paper thin.

Throw away the boredom, and just start running.

The rhythm of a carved heart -- that's my ism.

Being somewhat impatient.

Even if I no longer sleep, I keep running within my dreams

I am a runaway 365 days a year.

Things I want to do today, is what I will do tomorrow.

There's no difference, if I can feel it, I'll ride the beat.

Because I believe in you.

Takin' Take it GO! SONIC!

Thoroughly Yes! SONIC!

"Let's shake" and "Action Show"

Both are for friends.

Kick away the restraints, and do what your heart wants

I don't want to be attacking Inside, Outside, surpassing absolutely everything, leaving nobody and nothing ahead.

Inside Outside GO! SONIC!

Absolutely Everything Yes! SONIC!

"Look Out!" and "Have a Nice"

the difference is paper thin.

Throw away the boredom, and just start running.

-

-

S,O,N,I,C GO!

S,O,N,I,C GO!

GO, GO, GO, GO LET'S GO!

-

**Sonic X: The Movie, DRAGON BLOOD**

-

Lifeon Angel Island would never be the same and Knuckles the Echidna could not be happier. For once he could have the best of both worlds. He could get on with his job of guarding the Master Emerald and enjoy the company of Rouge the Bat. Of course, he would not admit that out load; especially not to his new resident. The flying landmass lacked the fast city life Rouge was used to and enjoyed, but she seemed to adapt well to the solitude of the island. Although he had caught her watching the Master Emerald longingly more than once; as if her own magpie instincts were coming back. That became worrying as the only jewel on the island kept it from crashing into the ground.

"Off…you ….go!" Knuckles grunted to himself before with one finally shove, he pushed the last of the militaries equipment over the side of Angel Island. Against his better judgement he had let G.U.N install a radar device so they could monitor Doctor Eggman's Eggmoon from the higher altitude. Having no more wish to even associate with the military or government in general, he decided he could no longer tolerate the presence of the stuff.

He watched as it disappeared through the clouds before turning to walk back towards the trees. Rouge was waiting for him in the branches of one nearby watching him as he walked back through the opening underneath onto the forest path.

"That was worth some heavy cash ya know. You could have sold it." She commented, before dropping down to the ground to follow him.

"Rouge, what would I do with money?" He asked, folding his arms behind his head as he walked. "I've got everything I need right here on this island." Suddenly he felt her arms close in from behind the drawing herself close to his back.

"You say the sweetest things without trying sometimes." He blushed realizing how his words could be interpreted.

As always the Master Emerald sat aloft in it's place on the ruins of the shrine, it's steady glow radiating outwards over the clearing. The ruins were gathered in it's light. A crumbling set of stone rings encircling an ancient set of stairs to a pedestal above;. It wasn't much, but it was home.

"How does it do that anyway?" Rouge asked as Knuckles began his way over towards it.

"Do what?" The echidna asked turning around and walking backwards.

"Makes the island fly, controls chaos energy… you know the whole thing that makes it different from other jewels it's size." She replied flying after him.

"Are there other jewels it's size?" Knuckles asked feigning a surprised look. Rouge's expression turned flat. "Well to tell the truth I don't know." He paused, then laughed. "I've been guarding this thing all my life and I haven't the slightest clue as to how it works." Everyone considered him an authority of Chaos energy effects and manipulation and true he knew more about it than most people but still, his knowledge was miniscule compared to stuff that baffled him about the emeralds. Questions like where they came from and who made them escaped his explanations.

"You could always ask it." Rouge stated as they reached the bottom of the stone steps that lead up to the top of the shrine.

"Somehow I don't think I'll get much in the way of an answer." He replied sitting down on the first step and making himself comfortable. He stared up towards the sky. It was clear completely. Being so high they were above the cloud cover it was nearly always this way. In fact, Knuckles reminded himself that the plants on the island were going to need a good soaking before too long. It seemed all he had to do was ask the Master Emerald and it would lower the flight path of the island to duck below the clouds and absorb some of the rain.

Another of the oddities of the emerald he had yet to figure out.

His lips pushed themselves into a frown, reminded all of a sudden of the Emerald's prisoner. Like Chaos before, trapped inside the Master Emerald was the spirit of the Destroyer. Well, half his spirit anyway. In the final battle with Krish, his essence had been ripped in two and while the Master Emerald had taken one half, the Precious Stone belonging to Queen Illumina of Maginaryworld had taken the other.

He sat up and looked at the jewel from where he sat. It seemed darker than he remembered it. Perhaps that was just his rendering of it. Now that it contained a part of the being that gulled his people into destroying themselves he felt like it was…contaminated in some weird way.

Still perhaps he was letting his personal feelings get the better of him. Chaos and Tikal had been stuck in the Emerald for eons and he had never felt a thing.

"Something wrong?" Rouge asked, peering over him blocking his view. He blinked once, coming back from his thoughts.

"Oh…it's nothing really." He stated before stretching out to make himself more comfortable. "Just thinking about things." Rouge watched him carefully, an eye narrowed.

"What to talk …" Before she could finish, the glow from the Master Emerald pulsated before turning blood red.

"What on?" Knuckles began turning to stare. The Master Emerald, the entire thing had changed from emerald green to scarlet. Sparks of purple lightning began sparking around it like a thunder storm and everything around it seemed to darken, black seeping in distorting everything in sight. In this state it remained for several seconds before as if nothing had happened at all, it reverted and returned to normal.

"What was that?" Rouge asked looking a little stunned. Knuckles just stood there with his mouth agape.

Being so close to the Emerald in terms of relationship he had seen more than she had. For a moment, one brief moment the Master Emerald had linked itself with another power; a power equal to itself in power. A symbiosis of power that stretched beyond his imagination but as soon as the link was established it vanished. But that wasn't all. Through that one moment of insight he had seen it. Giant wings spread aloft, carrying the massive scaly bulk into the sky. Thousands fled as it's shadows filled the sky, mothers clutching at their children, multitudes tripping over each other in mass panic. A set of raven black eyes in a horn rimmed face stared down at the ground below and the futile attempts to stop it made by the soldiers before a wide mouth with several rows of dagger like teeth that tore itself open and fire began bellowing out like a tornado.

Knuckles had seen visions from the Master Emerald before and they were all prophecies of doom. What this one meant he could only guess at.

* * *

- 

The Blue Typhoon was a ship created jointly by Miles Prower and Doctor Eggman. It was built as a war vessel that would allow them to reach Mars, where the Metal X Machine Federation had terra-formed the planet for some purpose as yet unknown. Now it was a ship on the run.

For some reason the G.U.N army considered the ship their property and seemed adamant about seizing it back. Which was partly the reason Major Koji Naoko Okida had chosen to hijack the vessel and pilot it out of the militaries service station before the Government commission could take it away. He and many others had lived, worked and fought on the ship for many months and considered it special to them. It had been conceived by Tails, their friend who along with Cosmo had sacrificed their places in this dimension in order to give Sonic and Shadow their chance at beating Krish Kra Pal or better known as the Destroyer. It was this that prevented anyone who had so much as set a foot onboard from handing the ship over to the Government.

The sun was slowly rising over the horizon on the African coast, the shadows of the night being chased over the bow of the ship as it flew close to the ground, travelling in an easterly direction towards the island of Madagascar in the distance. The African continent was one of the few places G.U.N had failed to reclaim territory. Here all they would have to deal with would be the remnants of former local Governments of the region and bandits.

Most of the tasks onboard were tended to by robots, Eggman's creations of course, so all the ship crew had to do were a few of the more important ones, those that required a living crew member present in order to fix.

"Energy bypass system, incredible!" Charles or Chuck Thorndyke remarked for the tenth time from underneath the Chaos Energy generator. In the original design, the Typhoon drew it's energy directly from a Chaos Emerald. Adapting salvaged Black Arm technology that given them a generator that produced the energy without one. It wasn't as good or reliable as a Chaos Emerald, but until they found one of the Emeralds it would have to do.

Even so Chuck found the alien device fascinating. With the most technical knowledge of anyone onboard, he had self appointed himself engineer and had taken to dissecting the generator and the putting it back together again once every couple of days, each time making him faster at it.

Black Arm technology was a fusion of metal and organic flesh, allowing the alien sect a sort of telepathy with their constructions. While humans and Mobians couldn't enjoy that symbiosis but thanks to his varied experience in biology and mechanics Chuck could understand the technology behind it. "Oh ingenious, how did they come up with this?"

"I think you're getting a little obsessed with this." Topaz remarked, leaning over the side.

"Quiet, once I understand how this technology works I'll have the entire ship outfitted with it. The Typhoon will be invincible." As if the fates heard him, part of the device had a discharge and a good deal of smoke spat itself down onto his face. "What in…damn it!" He exclaimed, hitting his head on the bottom of the machine. Topaz giggled to herself.

Omega raised his arms and several compartments on the outside of his barrel sized limbs opened up revealing hidden missile compartments. Several of them flew through the air towards their target. Flicking her wrist Amy Rose summoned her hammer into her hand as she ran, her emerald green eyes locked onto the incoming projectiles. As soon as they were within a few feet of her, he turned and spun her hammer around in an arch using the entire length to bat each of them away. One impacted on the floor, another the wall and the last two directly into the ceiling.

Omega reloaded preparing to fire again and Amy used the spilt second to move in for a close ranged attack, bringing her hammer around sharply trying to hit the battle android across the head. A round red metal arm swung up and parried her blow before Omega switched from ranged to close range combat, lashing out with his talons repeatedly. Using intense amounts of agility she ducked and dodged around the swings, using the handle length of her hammer to block some of the attacks.

Seeing that her strategy wasn't working, Amy switched battle plans backing off to put herself out of range of those metallic claws but still too close for him to fire missiles safely.

Unable to use either weapons, Omega left himself open to a couple of bashings as Amy circled him smashing her hammer repeatedly against his metal armour. Forced to adapt, Omega shifted into mobile mode; his legs retracting inside his body and a pair of tank like threads taking their places. Using his arms to block her swings, the battle android soured forward with surprising speed out of her range and as soon as he was far enough away his torso rotated around to face back to front and he raised his arms.

_"Target locked."_ His metallic hands rotated to the side to reveal a hidden pair of missile launching platforms within the arms themselves. Two heat seekers soured forward, ready to strike hard at the pink hedgehog.

Amy forged a smirk, before swinging her hammer around in an arch and batting both of them around in the air at the same time. The missiles seemed to do a u-turn in mid air and before Omega could order them to self destruct they ploughed right into his body and sent him souring back into a far wall.

At this point, Chris tapped the top of the stopwatch

"How was that?" The pink hedgehog called over, taking a napkin out of her pocket and whipping her forehead with it.

"One minute ten." Chris replied resetting his stop watch. "Definitely faster." Amy smiled then turned to her sparing partner.

"Hey Omega, you ok?" With a loud metallic grunting, Omega's legs reappeared as he heaved himself up from the floor. The missiles had all been duds and not the kind used in actual combat but they still managed to pack a wallop.

_"Damage assessment: Minimal, system compensating."_ Sparing with the android had become a daily practise for her. It was part of preparation, or at least that was the way she saw it. The Confederates, the main Fesonian Empire would be arriving within the solar system in little over a year and a half. The entire world was preparing for the inevitable battle that would erupt once that invasion force got here so why shouldn't she?

"Hey, didn't Sonic say he was going to practise as well?" Sam Speed asked looking around for the blue hedgehog as he pushed several boxes for ammunition refills in Omega's direction. The empty hanger bay that they had quickly converted into a practise space was empty apart from the four of them.

"He was." Chris replied as Amy stepped down to take a short break. "But Shadow got to him first, they went out for training of their own about half an hour ago." Shadow had been pushing Sonic hard for the past few months. Each time Sonic had come back exhausted, pushed beyond even his physical limits. Amy reminded herself to speak to Shadow about that. She didn't want Sonic worn out before he planned to pull off her strategy to claim his heart.

"Order now and get…"

"Oh Brad, what will a do…"

"Who wants to be a…."

"Peek performance at…" No one sentence completed itself as Hare couldn't find a single channel to his liking. Not there was much choice to begin with. After that whole Black Arm thing most television satellites has stopped functioning along with many TV stations. Himself, Bean and Bark were lounging around in the recreational centre. Bark was lifting weights while Bean amused himself with a treadmill. Hare had already done his workout so he could afford a little time to relax.

"Ah forget it." The rabbit like Mobian finally sighed standing up from the couch and stretching out his wide arms. "Only thirty channels are left and there's **_still_ **nothing worth watching."

"Don't turn that off." A voice stated from behind him. Bark put the weights back on the metal holder and looked up to see the Major of Freelance Division enter. Okida was a Mobian vampire bat, his fur a golden brown and eyes flaxen yellow. On his chest he wore a white shirt with a sleeveless brown leather jacket over it. Wrapped around his shoulders was a blood red drape. His pants were raven black and boots brown. He never seemed to change his attire at all. With Tails gone Okida had assumed the acting role of captain of the ship.

"What for, there's nothing worth watching on." Hare told him as the bat took the controls and changed channel. He flipped over to one of the few constant news channels that remained functioning after the satellites went down.

"Government officials have today released a statement regarding the terrorist attacks conducted on military targets over the last few weeks in Central City." The female news speaker announced, behind her were captions showing utter destruction of several buildings which according to the reports had been both Hexagon and Military property. Even Bark put down his weights and paid attention at this point "According to a spokesperson for the army, the intelligence agency has reason to believe these terrorists are a Mobian militant group."

"Oh come on." Hare remarked callously. "We all wanna take a few pot shots at G.U.N at the moment. Me included."

"There's a difference between wanting to and actually doing it." Bean told him, wiping the sweat off his feathers with his bandana. Suddenly the newsreader held a hand to her ear piece.

"I'm being told that our report has arrived on the scene of the latest attack, let's go to him now." The scene buzzed for a moment through one of the few remaining satellites links before clarifying. There was a man with a microphone standing in front of a smouldering pile of ash and broken, twisting metal pieces.

"I'm standing on the grounds of what used to be a military depot belonging to the finical organisation Hexagon, frequently used by the G.U.N army to store oil and other resources needed for the fleet. At around midnight last night it came under brutal attack from what police have dubbed 'Blaze'." A photo shot of the signature left behind by the feline that had devastated the entire place was shown. "As of yet, police are still unsure of whether this title refers to a single person or an organisation but whatever the case; 'Blaze' is wanted for destruction of military property, grand arson and finally the murder of several SWAT police responding to the distress call from security." Okida showed no emotion at the scene of several men being sealed up in body bags and put into the backs of several ambulances. "This is just the latest in a string of attacks that began last week. So far a Mech refuelling station, military outposts and now Hexagon property has been added to the long list." The press hadn't made a big a deal of these attacks so far, that is until something belonging to Hexagon got attacked. Since the organisation was now pulling G.U.N's strings, it was doing everything it could to play the martyr. "Police officials have told me today that if these acts of terrorism reflect the feelings of the mass majority of Mobian kind then military action may have to be considered."

"They can't do that!" Amy exclaimed loudly once everyone onboard had gathered on the bridge of the ship. "They can't blame the rest of us for something one person did!"

"I think you'll find they will." Hare remarked with a flat expression. "No offence to any humans present but from what I've seen of your history, you spent most of your time coming up with excuses to bash each other's heads in."

"None taken I'm sure." Chuck replied, folding his arms and fixing Hare with a stern glare.

"But can they do that?" Topaz asked. "I mean really blame all Mobians for this? The people won't allow it." Sam Speed suddenly burst out laughing, running his fingers through his red hair.

"Are you kidding? Half the time _'the people' _don't get a look in." They knew he was right. Hexagon, the true force behind G.U.N was now in almost total control of society on Earth. As such, **_IT_** dictated the rules. Hexagon said jump, the police said how high.

"Look we're jumping the gun a bit here." Chuck stepped in trying to cut back to the point. "I mean really this is all speculation for a worst case scenario."

"Still, it's probably best we cap these 'Blaze' people before they give Mobians any more bad press." Okida muttered stretching out his wings.

There was a shunting as the door to the bridge opened and staggering came Sonic, his blue quills a mess. His arms and legs covering wit dirt and scratches and cuts lancing over his ankles. "Sonic, what on Earth happened to you?" Okida asked as the blue hedgehog swayed there gently, before collapsing to the floor, Amy quickly rushing to his side.

"You look like you ran from one side of Africa to the other without stopping." Chris remarked as the pink hedgehog helped Sonic into a chair.

"I did." He replied, whipping some of the sweat off his brow. "Shadow wouldn't let me stop."

"Here." Amy handed him a ring and as soon as it was in his finger, it glowed brightly yellow for a single instant before disappearing complete; it's energy absorbed into Sonic's body. Some but not all of the injuries disappeared and even his quills snapped back into place. The blue hedgehog stretched out until his bones snapped then he relaxed.

"Thank's Amy I needed that." He said giving her a thumbs up. Amy just smiled back at him.

"Man Shadow's been taking this training thing seriously." Chris muttered, then looked around. "Speaking of which where is he?" Sonic shrugged.

"He said he had something to do and shot off."

"Come to think of it." Chuck started. "I haven't seen Tikal for a while either."

* * *

- 

It had taken months of browsing through records, going through files and digging through reports long since buried and forgotten but finally Shadow had found it and now, he stood before the gates of a long abandoned estate. The grounds were several acres in width and length and surrounded by a tall stone wall. Parts of it were crumbled and most claimed by a think entanglement of vines and creepers. Directly in the centre was a large mansion, rotted by time and in ill shape after decades of abandonment. Here it had stood in the French countryside alone for fifty years, conveniently separated from civilisation by miles of open wilderness and forestland.

The rusted metal plate identifying the property was still riveted into the gate at the northern entrance. Most of the writing on it had been weathered away by time but one word still stood out through the rust.

The wooden sign outside said no trespassing. But the metal plague clearly showed…

'ROBOTNIK'

The Professor talked of his home on the Earth often, had once even shown a picture of it to the developing hedgehog, but for some strange reason had neglected to inform him of where it lay. He had asked Maria of it, but the girl had only smiled and told him she didn't know where it was either. She had spent her entire life on the ARK but imagined the manor to be a beautiful place.

She was right, the picture Gerald had showed him revealed pristine lawns and cut hedgerows, with a beautiful central building with freshly pained outer woodwork. But now thanks to neglect the place was ugly, a dried up corpse of it's former self. The central manor stank of wet wood even from this distance. The walls were blackened and those made of stone crumbled under the incessant pulling of vines. The ground crunching underfoot he made his way up the thick gravel path towards the house.

He knew Tikal was following him. She had made no attempt to hide her presence and now he could hear her crunching footsteps on the path behind. Just how she managed to keep up with him, even when he ran and used Chaos Control was something he would have to put thought to sooner or later.

"So this is the home of the Robotnik family?" She asked, finally speaking to him. Shadow nodded once without turning around, his gaze locked on the house before him. It was here he would find the answers he sought. Not anything to do with him, he was done with that. But the Professor had more secrets to divulge. Like how he knew all he did, about Mobius and Earth merging, about how events would transpire even after his own death and finally just how he became informed of Krish Kra Pal, the Destroyer, in the first place.

The space colony in orbit could reveal nothing, so instead; he turned his attentions here.

The door fell inwards as he pushed it open, the hinges rusted to the breaking point finally giving way. The slammed of rotted wood against a dust covered floor echoed through the empty rooms of the house and echoed for several minutes.

"I didn't know they were hiring Dracula as an interior decorator." The black and red hedgehog muttered to himself, wandering across the hall. The whole place was a classic renaissance manor, everything fitting the time period perfectly. Wooden walls with stone pillars several couple of feet, mahogany floors and even a spider web ridden chandelier hanging from the high ceiling above. A set of stairs ran up to a balcony on the right hand side, the walls going up lined with old portrait frames; the pictures either gone or long since faded.

"No one has been here in over fifty years." Tikal said, joining his side and casting her gaze through an open door into a side room. It was too dark beyond to see what lay inside.

"But why?" Shadow asked out load, the puzzlement clear on his face. If Tikal was right, then the Robotnik family had abandoned this place after the events on ARK. Why were they compelled to do this? Had there been more to what transpired than he already knew? Shadow growled to himself and made his way past the stares towards the back of the house. Every time he thought he had the story pieces together, some other thing came along to break up the picture and add more jigsaw puzzle pieces.

Tikal wandered into the room she had seen earlier, leaving Shadow to his own business. It was a dining room of some kind. A long wooden table stood directly in the centre, the chairs around it covered in sheets of white clothe. Another door at the far end lead into another room, most probably the kitchens. What drew her attention was the item that sat on the cabinet nearby. It was a small picture frame with a photograph encased behind the glass.

Prof. Gerald Robotnik and the young Maria she recognised instantly, but there were more people in the photo. Standing beside the professor were two younger men. One was tall with thick sideburns running down his face and a pair of thick spectacles. He was dressed in rugged clothing and had a canvas cowboy style hat on his head. The other was shorter with a thick orange moustache, a shock of fiery red hair and this one was holding a small boy on his shoulders. The child was probably about seven and had to be the man's son. They shared the red hair and eyes. Like the first man, the child wore thick glasses. On his T-shirt were the words 'I LOVE SCIENCE' and cradled in his arms was a small bronze trophy. Engraved on the plague at the bottom was "first place Science award."

Tikal went to put the photo back in it's place, then hesitated. Again she glanced at the boy in the photo, with thick glassed and red hair. Then at his father, the one with the very so familiar shaggy orange moustache. Given family traits and adding a few pounds and years, this boy could very well be…. A foreboding sense of da-ja-vu stole over her at the thought and she put the frame into her pocket.

Shadow found most of the downstairs devoid of anything of interest. All the furniture was covered with white sheets and anything valuable that could be carried away practically was gone. Silver ware, pots, pans and seven cutlery was missing from the kitchen. Besides, if there were answers here; he doubted he found find them amongst decades old spice racks.

Suddenly there was a loud noise echoing through the ceiling, a crash that shook the walls and sent fragments of plaster dust falling down. Shadow cast a glance up; he knew Tikal was in the other room so that couldn't have been her. They were not alone in the house.

Quickly he shot back to the hall to find Tikal waiting for him. She had heard it too. Silently the two of them ascended the large stair case and were quickly on the landing. Several doors on the right over the kitchen lead to other rooms, one of which was open. The dust on the floor had been recently disturbed, two trails of foot prints leading off through the door.

In no mood to creep around, Shadow simply walked over to the door and looked inside standing in clear view.

"I don't believe it." He snarled stepping through the door frame with Tikal following. The room inside was one of the master bedrooms. A canopy bed ran in the far corner with furniture placed all around. "What the hell are you two doing here?" Trying to move one of the dusty cabinets were two very family robots.

Becoe dropped his side of the furniture when he sighted the hedgehog, dropping it down on his foot and was now hopping around the room in pain. Shadow scowled. It seemed Eggman's flunkies were making off with whatever they could carry here.

_"Never mind us, what are you doing in France?"_ Decoe asked in reply, looking surprised.

"Sightseeing." Shadow stated sarcastically stepping forward. "Care to explain why you're taking the furniture?"

_"We're not taking anything."_ Becoe said, rubbing his foot one last time. _"We're just looking for a key."_

"A key?" Tikal and Shadow asked in unison. Shadow narrowed his eyes at the two robots.

"What key?" He asked.

"The key that opens my grandfather's secret laboratory of course." Stated a familiar voice from behind them. Turning to look back over his shoulder Shadow saw Doctor Eggman standing in the doorway, his hands pressed against his hips. His eyes, hidden behind thick glasses squinted down at them both. "Even here I can't be rid of some pesky little Mobian getting in the way." The scientist muttered, running his fingers through his moustache.

"Just what do you think you're doing here?" Shadow asked confrontationally. Eggman feigned a hurt look.

"Is a man not entitled to visit his family home?" The black and red hedgehog set him a flare that could have dissolved stone. He knew from long experience the good doctor was not the sentimental type. "Look let's not beat around the bush. I'm here because I want the same thing as you I'd wager."

"And what might that be?"

"Answers mainly. My grandfather set down a plan to combat the Destroyer even before the invasion of ARK." Eggman paused to adjust his glasses. "I want to know exactly how he became privileged to information by all rights he could never have had."

"And possibly acquire some Black Arm technology while you're at it?" Tikal asked with a raised eyebrow. Most of the Professor's achievements had been done due to his researches at the crash site of the space station Armageddon. The Eclipse Cannon, the ARK itself and perhaps even parts of Project Shadow had come from his studies of the ancient science. Eggman managed a thick sadistic smile.

"What secret lab?" Shadow asked.

Hidden beneath the house was a military style complex, built by the Professor even before he started construction on the ARK. According to Eggman, not even the military knew of it's existence. Everything Gerald had wanted to keep hidden from them he stashed there. A lifetime of secrets concealed behind a door that despite the Doctor's best efforts he had been unable to open.

Leading them around the back of the house to the west wing, he revealed a secret passage down behind a false wall. Behind which was a flight of stairs that lead downwards into the earth.

"If you're so desperate to get in there…" Tikal began. "Then why not simply tunnel down through to get past the door?" Eggman's expression didn't change.

"Believe me I would if I could." He replied. "But that's out of the question. The entire complex is concealed under bedrock, that's how it managed to evade notice for so long. If I start tunnelling through the roof I could bring the whole thing crashing down." He shook his head as they descended the stairs. "No, I have to go in through the door. Which, it pains me to admit, I can not open." He stood aside to reveal a tower metal barricade blocking the path. A complex metal door made the tunnel at the bottom of the stairs a head end. It looked air tight. Nothing had been out of there since it was sealed, which had to be a good couple of decades. The entire door was covered from top to bottom in a thick layer of dust.

Shadow walked up closer and put his hand against the metal frame. The dust had been whipped away near the ground level, revealing a large pad on the side. This had been a locking mechanism of some kind.

"So you've been searching the house for the key to this door?" Tikal asked and Eggman nodded once.

"For over five hours now, without success." He sighed angrily folding his arms while his two robots looked rather defeated.

"And you're not going to find it." Shadow told them all without turning around. "This door doesn't require a key to open." He turned his hand to look at the pad nearby. "This is a palm scanner. The Professor was working on it on the ARK, I remember seeing him with it." The good doctor and his robots shot each other a glance. No wonder they hadn't been able to find the key. There wasn't one to begin with. It could only be opened by one person, the lock could be deactivated by the one with the right palm print.

"Well, who's palm print opens the damn thing?" Eggman asked impatiently. Shadow was silent for a second, before he reached over and whipped away the thick cobwebs and dust just above the pad. There he revealed an icon about the size of a dinner plate engraved into the metal. A yellow circle, surrounded by three red rectangular shapes in a triangle. It was the all too familiar icon of Project Shadow.

"Mine." The black and red hedgehog stated, before he removed one of his gloves and then reached out slowly with that hand and placed it gently on the pad. For a moment nothing happened, then the entire pad lit up bright pink and a soft bleeping echoed from behind the door. There was a sudden shunting noise as old devices and gears began twisting inside and then finally the door parted down the middle and pulled itself aside scrapping against the bottom of the floor loudly.

-

**End of Part 1**


	2. Rise of the Dragon

Blaze did not like this world, that was apparent from the moment she had first set foot in it. The air was stale with the emissions from countless factories and automobiles, the water stung her mouth with the taste of metallic zinc and the noise produced by their revolting cities was deafening. But what upset her the most, what really got her anger ablaze was the fact that without this heretical pollution this world was a damn sight more beautiful than her own.

Her own sun was a dying red giant while that of the Apes still had at least a billion years left in it. Her world strained to shrug off the pestilence of the Dragon Blood while theirs remained untouched. Her world was dead, while theirs was still very much alive; and they way they treated it sickened her.

Sitting in a state of torpor Blaze meditated by herself away from the rest of the pack, his arms and legs crossed in front of her. She sat quietly on the end of a support beam that jutted out from the wall of the half collapsed warehouse on the outside of Central City they had taken up as their temporary nest. The felines numbered ten in all, a pitiful third of what she had wanted to take with her, but lacked the strength necessary. Dimensional realm travel was not an easy thing to do, for any mage. It required immense concentration and energy and with the Arcanum lost to them, her own magic had not been enough. They gave her some space, sitting on the ground floor from distance away; keeping out of the light cast in from the hole in the roof. Some was cleaning their blades while others had taken to resting to converse their strength. They were all silent, but the mood was very stale as not many of them had eaten in some time.

Her trance was disturbed by the return of her first officer, a loud thud spreading across the sky playing testament to his sudden presence. Slowly Blaze opened her eyes before standing up. Racing across the collapsed ruins of the warehouse was a large bulky form that moved with immense acrobatic grace despite the mass. It stopped a short distance away on the ground floor, heaved the large bundle it was carrying over it's shoulders up and dumped it onto the floor. The smell of blood was thick in the air instantly and at once his bundle was surrounded by feline warriors. None of them had fed for two days and the contribution of a successful hunt was welcome.

Silently Blaze slid down to the ground and approached as the kill was torn up into shares. The prey was an animal she was unfamiliar with, short and fluffy with white wool all over it's body.

Jack her first officer licked the blood off his claws before bowing in the presence of his commanding general. He was larger than the rest of them as could be expected from his breed. His fur was mostly white with big fat patches of raven black directly over the top of his head, down his back and his tail. What set him apart mostly from the rest of them were his eyes, one of them a brilliant gold and the other sea blue.

"What creature is this?" She asked sniffing at it as the hot flesh went it's separate ways.

"The apes breed them in the farmland to the north for the meat, fur and sometimes their milk." Jack replied. "They call them sheep."

"Breeding pray?" She pondered out load helping herself to her share of the kill. "No hunting? What a dull concept." The fresh meat was a welcome change from what they'd been forced to scavenge over the last month. The cooked food the Apes forced down their throats had had all the flavour bled out of it and was pumped full of chemicals and other poisons to try and improve it. This meat was as nature intended. Soft, dripping with blood and warm to the touch.

"Any news?" Jack asked giving the red jewel on her forehead a glance. Blaze angrily tore off a hunk of meat from the carcass with her canines and chewed it nosily. "I'll take that as a no." With a flick of her head Blaze tossed another hunk of meat into the air and snapped at it, severing it in half with her sharp teeth and swallowing it whole.

"Nothing for a day now." She replied standing up, wiping the blood off her fur with the back of her sleeve.

"They could have gone to silent running to conserve energy." Jack pondered out load. By now their comrades had torn the carcass to a near skeletal state, a few hunks of fat left on the bones.

"Perhaps." Blaze replied. "Or maybe the energy drain has gotten so low they can't contact us anymore."

"Only one way to find out." He stated. Blaze had considered it during meditation. The stone could be used for any number of things, location, transportation even long range communication but it's energy supply was limited when separated from the Arcanum. The stone was only to be used to aid them in their quest.

"No." She stated. "We find the Arcanum first, then we call." As the dominate female what she said went.

"As you wish." Jack replied turning away. "And when we find it?"

"What I said from the beginning." Blaze sighed, her face suddenly adopting a very serious expression. "We kill the one who has it."

* * *

- 

Since the first Eggman Empire robot set foot on Earth, the Government's military put acquiring advanced technology for themselves as a top priority. All current military robotics systems were the product of that endeavour. Mechs, guard robots and even Giant Wing itself had all been made possible by salvage operations made to retrieve advanced hardware.

Yet despite this their possible greatest prize, the Battle station Armageddon, had been vaporised before it could be studied. Hexagon officials were very put out about that, but even so it hadn't been a total lose. Rare fragments of the Station had survived the explosion and the fall through the atmosphere to land in various locations around the globe.

Studies of the salvage had already given Hexagon revolutionary Nano-technology. It was still a long way from perfection but once controllable it would bring about a second renaissance in the medical industries perhaps even the cures of diseases once thought terminal. But that was going to stay in the lab for a good while. No point in getting the public exited or alert rival companies. All useful technology would be used in the military until further notice, at least that was the order from the board of directors.

But all that was nothing compared to the secret they uncovered from a hunk of the battle station they hauled out of the red sea about three months ago. Technology unlike anything they'd ever seen.

President Jones, who also happened to be one of Hexagon's top board of directors, was the first to disembark from the chopper as it landed on the landing pad on the far end of Area 99's runway. His face was a pit of darkness as he walked for he was here to find out exactly why about two hours ago a level ten alert had been triggered on a base that was not supposed to need one.

After the Eggman Empire attacked the G.U.N headquarters, power had been divided into several places to prevent G.U.N's head from being cut off completely. The flying fortress Giant Wing, the White House and here. But this was also where they kept the various artefacts and objects they felt too precious for the public to be allowed to know about.

"What went wrong?" The President asked as the general in charge of the base greeted him and his escorting soldiers.

"We still don't know sir." The General admitted, showing them through an entrance into the base interior. Two robot Laser Hunter guards stood to attention on either side, saluting as they passed. "The infestation occurred so quickly we had to seal the blast doors to keep it inside. We have the entire area quarantined behind three teen foot thick sheets of metal. Not even air molecules are getting in or out."

"And that leaves an entire three floors between us and leap gate." The President snarled angrily. "This is a completely unacceptable situation. Are you still keeping watch with the security cameras?" He asked as they marched into a control room. The terminals around the outer edge were all occupied by men in white coats, all talking to each other in a never ending murmur of frightened conversation. Screens varying in size huge around the walls. They were all buzzing with static.

"Well we where, but one by one the cameras were destroyed from the inside." The general replied. "By what we don't know, but we managed to catch something on film." He gestured to one of the technicians. "Play the 9-5-0 footage." There was a faint buzzing and on the large main screen the last moments of film captured by a security camera rolled. It showed something of considerable size scrapping down a corridor. A colossal pair of wings on either side trying to flap but the room was restricting it. The beast barley seemed small enough to squeeze through the corridor. A screech escaped a mouth on the end of a long scaly neck before something lashed out and struck the camera. It was then the footage ended.

"What in the name of all that is holy was that?" The President demanded with his face slowly turning white.

"We don't know." The general replied after a moment of uncertain silence.

"You don't know?" Jones repeated fixing the general a glare. "You have the entire lab section of your base infested with unknown life forms and you don't even know what the hell they are?"

"Yes sir." Silence endured for a moment longer.

"There aren't any words in the English language to tell you how god damn unacceptable that is." The president nearly shouted. "Is any part of the lab operational from the outside?"

"Only the emergency lock down system." The general replied. "And we can't release that, not without breaking the quarantine and releasing whatever the hell those things are."

"Leap gate must be retaken at all costs." That was not statement or a suggestion, that was an order. "Creatures or not, having it out of reach is out of the question. You have princely twenty four hours to come up with a practical solution or I'm sending in the Creeper Mechs."

"Creepers?" The General nearly gagged on his repeat. "Sir with respect that'll be a complete disaster!"

"They passed the latest screening tests, and frankly this utter fiasco is the perfect time to test them." The President jabbed a finger at him. "Twenty four hours, and then I send the Mech's in. In the meantime, I don't want a single member of the public to know about this little breech of security. Level ten information lock down. Is that clear?" The general silenced a cursing reply just as it was about to escape his throat.

"Yes sir." He replied after a brief hostile silence.

* * *

- 

Sun, surf and sand. Vector's three new favourite words. So far his vacation had lasted sixth months with no signs of ending. Espio of course had voiced concerns about exactly when they were planning to go back to work, but for the moment at least most of the agency were ignoring him. They were all having too much fun.

Sprawled out on a deck chair on a half deserted beach Vector had lain their for hours simply letting his cold blood absorb the heat. This environment was naturally much better for a lizard. Hot in the mornings and cool in the evenings, just what the doctor ordered. This vacation had been long overdo. Of course the warm bloods on the agency, Rei and Beck for instance found the place so sweltering they had taken to swimming every day just to keep their body temperature down. By now they knew the islands like the back of their hands and had even started giving tours around in a boat to make a few ends meet. Vanilla, Cream and their robot Emerl had rented a small hut on the waters edge for their home. She and Vector would meet three of four times a week for walks down the beach in the sunset. Cream was alarmed at the prospect of having Vector for a future step father and most of Chaotix were making jokes behind his back but frankly Vector himself was on cloud nine.

"Can I help you?" The crocodile asked opening one eye to see it was Espio blocking his sunlight.

"Sure those detective skills you boast about aren't going to waste here?" The chameleon asked with his hands resting against his hips.

"Now way, I'm still as sharp as a hatchet." The crocodile replied closing his eyes and getting himself comfortable, putting his hands behind his head and taking deep breaths of the sea air. "Now can you move? You're blocking my shine." Espio forged a very unimpressed frown.

"Then maybe you can figure out why there are a dozen squad cars outside our apartment building." Vector's eyes shot wide open. "And why one of them is marked 'Coroner's Office'?" Vector nearly fell off his deck hair and onto the sand as he scrambled up, getting his tail trapped in the folding metal.

"Ooh, Ooh Vector!" Charmycalled over as the two reptiles made their way up from the beach. The bee was hovering in the air with crossed legs. "The police won't let anyone in and I really need ta go!" Ignoring him Vector pushed past some of the crowd that had gathered around the entrance until he came to a plastic barrier. Several squad cards stood between the crowds and the entrance of the flats as well, several uniformed officers standing in place to keep the gathering people away.

"Alright, shows over folks! Move along!" A cop called over to the crowd as two paramedics brought something in a large black plastic bag out on a stretcher and two more cops ushered them into the back of an ambulance.

"Oh that is seriously bad karma." Vector muttered to himself as they closed the back doors of the vehicle.

"Sure you don't know anything about it?" Espio asked giving the crocodile a side glance.

"Exactly what are you implying?" Vector asked narrowing one eye at the chameleon.

"When the police get involved around us, it's usually got something to do with you." Espio replied flatly folding his arms. There was a brief moment of silence, two hostile glares battling for supremacy in the air.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Vector finally replied turning away. Charmy buzzed around him.

"He said… 'USUALLY WHEN THE'…" The crocodile clamped a large hand over the bee's mouth in passing.

"Ok nothing to see…" A cop began and then saw who it was. "Oh it's you." He finished sloughing his shoulders as Vector stood on the other side of the police barricade. "Yes get lost lizard."

"Temper temper." Vector replied flatly. "Care to explain this?"

"Quite frankly no." Was the cop's reply.

"Oh come on, you telling me the police aren't going to let me know what goes on in my own apartment building?"

"Hell yes, now say back behind the line unless ya want a tazer in the face." With that the cop was gone.

"Dude, you actually saw the body?" Espio looked back over his shoulder towards some teenage boys standing in the crowd behind him. Several of them had surfboards tucked under their arms.

"Saw it? I nearly barfed over it." Another announced almost proudly. "It was all bent outta shape and everythin'."

"Mangled huh?" Someone asked trying to dig around for more gory details. "Chopped up, blood everywhere?"

"Nah, worse then that." The second replied. "It was like, warped. All grown out of proportions."

"Wanna run that by us again?" Another asked sceptically.

"It was like cancer gone mad." Espio snuck closer so he could hear the exact conversation over the murmurings of the crowd. Getting within a reasonable distance he turned invisible so none of them would know he was eavesdropping. "The arms, legs and neck had all grown, man. It even had a tail."

"A what?"

"A tail dude, like a lizard or something." Silenced endured through the small group for a moment.

"Sure it wasn't a mobian body?" One of them asked eventually.

"No way." Their witness replied. "It was a freak, but it had been human not too long ago."

A loud screeching broke Espio's concentration and glaring back, he watched the crowd move off. The ambulance driving off seemed to have lost control of itself, swerving all over the road before finally slamming into the side of a building. The front caught fire as the two drivers and leapt from the front, screaming like mad men running as fast as they could away from the vehicle. Before anyone could even react, something slammed hard into the back doors of the ambulance from inside. Then again, a large dent bending outwards. There was a moment of silence before the doors broke open and the most bizarre looking creature any member of Chaotix had ever seen lumbered out.

Trailing around the spikes and horns protruding from its back were torn piece of black plastic from the body bag it had been confined inside. A long scaled tail protruding over the back end of a pair of torn jeans. It looked mostly human, but quickly it was loosing any familiar features. A scream escaped its lips as it began changing, the arms spreading out wider; each linger thinning out and spreading.

With a sickening tear the arms spread out to change complete into leathery wings, their span well over four meters in each direction. What was left of the tattered clothes tearing as the new creature began spreading itself out, beating the few wings as the skin was still spreading down either side of its two bent scaly legs to the tail behind it.

"Cool; a Dragon!" Charmy proclaimed hovering over Vector's shoulder. The creature screeched again into the sky as the transformation completed itself, the hair from the top of the head falling away to replaced by thick scales. Then to finish up in a sudden flare of colour, the skin turned pale brown with pale green and black streaks running down either side of the wings.

"No…freakin'…way." Espio began with wide eyes, his mouth hung open as the beast beat its wings several times.

"What the hell are you waiting for? Shoot it!" Someone yelled and instantly bullets began flying from the cops. Several of them hit the creature in the hind legs and it cried out in pain. In retaliation it swung its body around towards them and arched its neck. The frill underneath vibrated angrily and out of its open mouth several projectiles when flying. One of them hit the nearly police officer, who looked down to see his shirt covered in a sticky pale yellow residue.

"Eww…" The bee proclaimed hovering a little closer to Vector. Suddenly the slime like substance on the cop ignited, reacting with the oxygen in the air around it and combusting. The guy started screaming, trying to quench the flames with his arms. He only succeeded in spreading the fire and very quickly his whole shirt was covered in flames. Espio acting on instinct tore a shuriken from his glove and tossed it straight towards a fire hydrant. Metal tore through metal and water sprayed out, hitting the flaming cop head on.

The dragon like creature arched its neck preparing to fire another projectile again. Recognising the procedure now, the cops ducked back behind their squad cars to avoid being hit. That strange yellow goo splattered everywhere, on car winds and tyres across the ground and even onto the sidewalk. Wherever it landed fire sprang up burning out of control.

"Get that damn SWAT team down here NOW!" One of them called into the radio in their car. The crowd behind them started running for their lives as the creature turned towards them, two red reptilian eyes glaring out across their numbers.

"I'll take care of this." Espio announced wielding his katana blade.

"Wait!" Vector called out but his cry of warning was on deaf ears. Espio darted forward with his sword in one hand and another shuriken in the other. He bounded past the cops defence line and made for the creature. Despite his silent footsteps it sensed him coming and spread its wings out wide. With only a small jump it took to the air. The chameleon leapt after it and caught hold of its tail as it rose up into the air. "That stupid moron!" Vector muttered angrily pushed its way past startled police after him.

Lashing out the crocodile grabbed Espio's own tail. The chameleon yelled out and looked back. Vector was using his own weight to keep the Dragon down. It couldn't fly any higher with so much extra baggage. Angrily it hissed at them with a forked tongue and lashed out with talon ridden hind legs, trying to get a clear shot from it's mouth so it could strike them with it's burning chemicals while not harming itself. Espio parried off the swipes before tossing his shuriken up into the creatures thigh.

Using the confusion of the momentary pain the beast was in, Vector used whatever strength he could summon and took hold off the dragon's tail with his free hand. With a sharp tug he tore the beast from its attempt to fly away and slammed it back into the road with a loud thud.

Furious the beast struggled flapping its wings against the ground. Eventually it got its head and long neck free from under the tangled heap and turned, its mouth already wide open to spit another fire producing glob at Vector. It reared back its head ready o fire, when Charmy flew in at the last second and smashed a short kick directly into the back of the neck.

"Bad Dragon, down boy." The bee told the swaying creature wagging a finger at it. The neck arched around again and a mouth full of teeth soured towards him. "Yipe!" The insect flew up narrowly avoiding becoming a bite size snack.

"I've got him!" Vector announced grabbing the creature by the neck and pinning it down to the ground. The dragon flapped its colossal wings in furious rage beating up winds that bent trees along the roadside, desperately trying to get the smaller creature off it. But Vector was holding the thing out of its line of sight meaning it couldn't strike him with either talons or its specialised chemical weapon.

Espio was on it in an instant, gliding through the air with his sword held aloft. With one swipe the chameleon stabbed the blade through the flying lizard's head. The creature convulsed, before collapsing to the ground; one last sigh escaping its lips before it went as limp as a rag doll in Vector's bear hug.

"That…that thing… was a corpse only a few minutes ago." A cop breathed in utter disbelief as they began climbing out from behind their cars. The burning stuff around them was still going strong. A tyre exploded as heat seared through the rubber and the paint had been melted off the force emblem on the car door. "Mangeled, by still a dead body."

"Well it is now." Vector announced pushing himself up. Espio drew his blade out of the creatures head, finding the blood inside the beast had turned yellow.

"What the hell!" He exclaimed dropping the blade as the blood on the metallic surface hissed at him, boiling and spitting steam into the air. Within seconds the katana had been eaten away.

"Would you look at that…" Vector asked looking at the small puddle on the ground that had once been a weapon, spreading out across the road like water.

"Lookie lookie." Charmy began, hovering close holding the shredded remains of a white coat with him.

"What's this?" Vector asked as the young insect handed it to him.

"I found it with those clothes it was wearing." Charmy replied as the crocodile began to inspect it. There wasn't much of it left, half of it had been torn clean off at the bottom. From what remains Vector could see it was a laboratory coat of some kind, the kind scientists wear in clean environments.

"Hello." He said to himself finding a small plastic object strapped to the inside pocket. The crocodile removed it and flipped it over to see what it was. It turned out to be an ID card of some kind. It had a humans picture on it as well as other details, but at the top it said very clearly; _Hexagon Industries._

"So this thing used to be a Hexagon employee?" Espio asked giving the dead dragon a glance as the police edged closer as if afraid it would come back to life.

"Henry Patterson." Vector replied reading the name of the tag. "Age 38, blood type B." He paused and flipped the thing over to ready what it said on the back. "Hey, this guy had level 5 security clearance to something." The crocodile paused to look down at the creature on the ground. It looked like some giant snake with legs and a pair of wings. And this had once been the man described on the card? It was too incredible to believe. "At the risk of sounding cliché…" Vector began. "Looks like we've got another mystery on our hands."

* * *

- 

The energy from the ring was being to slip away and Sonic's legs were once more feeling like lead weights. Dragging himself through the corridors to his room Sonic found he could hardly keep his eyes open. It was only six in the afternoon and already he was pining for a nice soft bed. His only hope was that Shadow didn't get back with another training session for him. As much as he agreed with the black and red hedgehog about improving for when the Confederates got here, Sonic needed downtime as well. The blue hedgehog remembered reading somewhere that muscles strengthened during rest AFTER exercise. Continuous strain was not only bad for you in some case's it could be lethal. Sure Shadow could go for that long; they designed him to be that resilient. Other people needed a break now and then.

Right now, Sonic was praising Chuck for his various addons around the ship; including rooms for each of them. As Doctor Eggman had been a co-designer of the vessel, it lacked various essentials such as living space for the crew. Tails had tried to make improvements while they had been out in space, but with him and Cosmo now gone; Chuck had taken over the job for him. Now the Blue Typhoon had the luxuries of a large cruise ship, each and every person onboard with their own private living space. Reaching a door, Sonic smacked his hand down on the panel next to it and the door shunted open. The blue hedgehog nearly fell in trying to reach his bed.

"Hey there." A voice greeted him. Opening an eye, Sonic looked around his room for the speaker. It was more of an apartment than a room, a single large living space with a sofa and a large screen TV at one end and a kitchen area behind some cabinets at the other. This in itself showed that Chuck had built this room with someone else in mind. Sonic was a terrible cook. A door at the far end lead into a small room with his bed, the object of his tired desire, ready for him. None of this was what drew his immediate attention. Sitting on the sofa in an oversized tea shirt was Amy. She had let her quills out of their usual style by removing her red head band and now they flowed past her neck and onto her shoulders. Reading the situation Sonic nearly smacked his head on the wall by standing up too quickly with his face turning bright red. "Easy there, I just got you something to eat that's all." The pink hedgehog added quickly, lifting something on a plate into view. Sonic was too tired to see it clearly but whatever it was it smelled good. His stomach growled enthusiastically, reminding him that his training sessions with Shadow had left him little time for real food.

"I owe you one Amy." He stated accepting the plate as he sat down beside her, too exhausted to care even if this was an obvious attempt on her half to wriggle her way into his heart. Now it was directly under his nose Sonic could tell it was a Chinese of some kind. Fast food was more to his taste but he dived into it any way.

"One what?" Amy asked giving him an almost seductive stare. Sonic shot her a brief glare before he carried on eating. "Once Shadow gets back, he and I are going to frank discussion about this workout routine he has you stuck to." She added.

"Get him to agree to leave me alone and I'll do anything you want." Sonic replied looking up briefly.

"I'll hold you to that." Amy added, sitting cross legged beside him. Finally noticing that all Amy was dressed in as an oversized tea-shirt and panties, he coughed and looked away. Amy only smiled at him. "Oh please. Most guy mobians go around in nothing but gloves and shoes."

"We can manage it." Sonic replied trying not to let his vision be attracted to anything inappropriate. "Girls…er…"

"Have more to hide?" Amy asked finishing his sentence for him. She leaned closer to him, resting her chin on his shoulder. You know; you're about as insecure in female company as Knuckles is. At least he has an excuse. He knew never learned how to act around us." Sonic paused, realizing that despite her attempts to seduce him she was right. Like Knuckles, the blue hedgehog had never exactly known how to act around girls. Of course, he wasn't going to fall into this obvious little trap Amy was trying to weave around him.

"Thanks for the snack." He stated changing the subject. Amy's face adopted a disappointed look as she realized he had stumbled across her ruse.

"That's ok." She stated leaning back into the sofa. "You were so busy trying to stay awake you forgot all the little things." She smiled suddenly. "Like combing your quills." Sonic made a quizzical sound with a mouth full of rice before glancing up. His blue quills were a completely mess, one of them so out of place it was falling over his forehead. He'd been so tired he'd barley been able to notice it. "Nice Mohawk." The pink hedgehog chuckled as he hurried to correct himself.

Sonic muttered something under his breath running his fingers back through the fused blue quills until finally they resembled their usual style.

"I've them like this for a reason." He hissed to himself as several refused to be bent back. "There." He shook himself several times and finally they slid back into their original places. "How I look?"

"Good as ever." She replied with a soft smile. Feeling slightly insecure Sonic coughed and picking up the food again. "I was going to cook something, but in the end I had to settle for something instant." The pink hedgehog added.

"Why was that?" The pink hedgehog hesitated at the question, the faint recollection of something unpleasant passing before her.

As Chuck descended from the flight of stairs into the kitchen, all he'd wanted to get was some milk to drink before he went to bed. What he got instead was a full on surprise. A large pillar of smoke was bellowing out from the galley quickly expanding over the ceiling. A second later Okida came bundling out the door beating back a torrent of flames with his wings while Topaz charged in carrying bucket of weather, their clothes horribly scorched.

"Never mind about that." Amy replied with a nervous smile. Sonic chewed thoughtfully on his meal and let his mind wander a little. "Sonic…" The blue hedgehog looked down to see Amy cuddling up to him. "Do you ever think about Tails and Cosmo?" A very long silence followed. Yes, he'd thought about them. He'd thought about them every night since the day they disappeared. The event kept playing over and over again in his mind. Krish, the Destroyer towering over them; the green fire burning all around. The original Eclipse Cannon was about to fire and once it did, Earth was history. Shadow and Metal Sonic were done, unable to get any closer as the fire licking at them from all directions scolded their skin. Then out of the darkness a shaft of light pierced the heart of the enemy, running him through before falling softly upon them; their strength returned in an instant.

Cosmo had offered up her place in their dimension to allow the union of three powers, the Master Emeralds, The Chaos Emeralds and the Precious Stone of Maginary world; all three culminating together and filling Shadow and Sonic with power they had never before felt.

When this happened, she was catapulted out of their realm and into god-knows-where. Tails refused to let her go alone, jumping after her at the last second and allowing himself to be absorbing by the resulting warp with her. The energy released had given Sonic, Shadow and Nazo the boast they needed to put the Destroyer down once and for all but; Sonic himself couldn't help but wonder if there was something he could have done, anything that would result in the two of them still standing there with them. Nothing he could put together given what he had to work with at the time could have produced that result, but he tried to think of a way anyway. Part of his mind refused to accept that their leaving with no way to return had been the only way it could have been done.

"Wonder what they're up to out there?" He asked in return, casting a glimpse out his window to the coming night sky, the first twinkling stars reaching through the dusk. They could be anywhere, across the galaxy, in another universe altogether; perhaps not even in reality as they knew it. When it came to dimensional properties, Sonic's own knowledge was not even enough to draw an educated guess from.

"Void's still looking for them." Amy reminded him. The small imp like creature from Maginaryworld had promised before he left that he would do everything within his power to locate the dimensional realm Cosmo's warp had taken them. It would take a lot of time as the number of universes there were stretched on for seemingly infinity. They could have landed in any one. "He'll find them."

"Yeah…" Sonic breathed sighing out-load realizing something. This was a rite of passage trail. The Tails that had left had been little more than a kid, a kid who accepted this new journey when he fell in love with Cosmo. Sonic felt incredibly guilty that he couldn't help him, but somehow fate had given both of them a task. Someone had to defend the Earth from the Confederates and another had to take care of Cosmo out there. Tails was far better suited to the latter job. The blue hedgehog groaned leaning back into the sofa. "Yeah he'll find them." A sudden large and almost evil smirk crossed his lips. "He'd better!"

* * *

- 

The stale air beyond the door hissed out angry as the air tight seal broke. The tunnel beyond had been sealed for over fifty years and the door seemed now reluctant to move after all that time. The moisture collecting behind it for so long had caused it to rust in places and as finally it moved back to allow entry it protected loudly; sparks flying out into the darkness. The light from the entrance barely penetrated the road beyond, leaving whatever lay at the end far out of sight.

Shadow felt a cold sense of foreboding creep over him and quickly he shrugged it off. If anywhere, the answers he sought lay beyond the dark and he would not fear it. There could be no light without darkness after all. Without saying a word to those around him, he left his left hand aloft and called the beginnings of a chaos spear into it. The golden energy glowed brightly, illuminating the tunnel for a distance before the shadows maintained their veil.

"At the end of this tunnel lies destiny." Eggman remarked with a thick grin on his face before striding forward. "And power reserved for those worthy enough to inherit it." With that he strode into the darkness and vanished. Becoe and Decoe glanced at each other before following after their creator. Shadow stood there as silent as ever, his face the very picture of uncertainty. Thus far nothing in his life had remained solid, reality as he knew it in a state of constant flux. He felt something tough his hand and he glanced to the side. Tikal's smiling face as there, her fingers entwined with his. A strange emotional tingle came over him and without even realizing it he smiled back.

He turned back armed with newfound strength and saw his fear for what it was. Gerald's past few messages from beyond the grave had been doomsday prophesies, he really wasn't ready for anyone one.

Fear of the unknown, fear of change in his already chaotic life. But now that he new what it was, he would fear it no more. Slowly at first, he advanced into the darkness; the light contained within his fingers lighting his way.

"Why me?" He found he couldn't help asking out load. "Why did it open for me?" Of all the palm prints in the world, why had Gerald chosen his to unlock the door?

"Perhaps he has something down here he only wants you to see." Tikal answered in passing thought. Shadow had been thinking along the same lines, and that thought wasn't altogether a pleasant one. What more pieces to the puzzle had Gerald lined up to throw at him this time?

The tunnel continued on for quite a distance, thick traces of algae, moss and vines that had wound their way down through from the plant life above lined the ceiling and walls like wallpaper; inching towards any source of moisture. Judging by far they had to walk, Shadow guessed that they had cleared the house by now. By his best guess they were probably under the far end of the estate to the east. What did Gerald have to hide here that he felt compelled to go to such extreme measures to conceal it? He and Tikal caught up to Eggman and his robots a short time later and the would-be conqueror had his own theory to offer.

"This must be where my grandfather stashed all the Black Arm technology he collected from the Armageddon." He stated with the ends of his moustache curling in excitement, the eyes behind the spectacles gleaming evilly at the sheer thought. "Think of might lie at the end of this tunnel! Hardware so advanced I'll finally have that hedgehog quaking in his boots."

"Firstly, Sonic wears sneakers not boots." Tikal commented without even looking up.

"And lastly even if there is any technology here you aren't laying any grubby fingers on it." Shadow finished, the glow form his chaos spear increasingly brightly for a single moment. Eggman shot them both a hostile glare, a pair of beady eyes squinting at them from behind the spectacles.

_"I'm not sure which one scare's me more, Shadow or the Doctor."_ Decoe muttered quietly to Becoe.

Their path came to an abrupt stop when they found another door barring their way. While this new one was large and had the Project Shadow emblem on it, it seemed completely different to the first one; with several large outer locks and a missing palm print panel. Shadow walked up to it and wiped away the dust with his hand. This was another blast door, designed specifically to be highly impact tolerant. No way they could force it down without brining the sheet of bedrock above down on their heads and teleporting over to the other side was far too risky. For all he knew he could end up teleporting inside a solid object, resulting in instant death.

"Ah ha!" Eggman proclaimed, finding a small computer terminal projecting out off the wall on the left hand side of the door. It was rusted around the edges and one or two of the keys were missing but it seemed operational. "Looks like a simple password inscription." He raised a finger. "And we all know my Grandfather's favourite word." The doctor hands danced over the panel, the outdated machinery squeaking in protest. "M….A….R….I….A; Maria." To his utter disappointment he was met by an error message accompanied by a loud bleeping. "What! Incorrect password!" Eggman demanded looking puzzled.

"That password's known to the military." Shadow said without looking around. "He wouldn't risk using it here."

"Then what the hell is the 'magic word' then?" The doctor demanded angrily, before slamming an infuriated fist against the wall.

"It would have to be something only you would know." Tikal muttered to Shadow, ignoring Eggman's ranting. That made sense, so Shadow began rummaging through what he could recall of his time on ARK for a memory he shaded with Prof. Robotnik but came up with nothing. As Eggman began cursing into the air, Shadow paced back and forth thinking quietly. Silently his gaze fell upon the icon of Project Shadow above the sealed door. There he stayed, simply looking at it for a moment; before a memory came slamming back into him like a meteor shower.

"Tulip." He stated suddenly.

"What?" Eggman asked looking up.

"T…U…L…I…P." The scientist and his robots cast each other a puzzled look but without having any other idea what it could be, typed it in anyway. As soon as the last letter was entered, a loud churning of decades old locks coming undone began resonating from behind the door.

"Tulip?" Tikal asked sceptically as the door began to slowly pull open.

"It's my first word." Shadow replied simply before turning to look directly at the door as inch by agonizing inch it began to open.

It was his first memory as well, sitting in the enclosed space with the scientists that worked on the project behind a sheet of glass watching him from afar. He was only four weeks old with the body of a ten year old and hadn't said a word. He grasped puzzles and advanced equations easy enough, but so far he hadn't said a single word. Gerald had tried everything he could think off to get him to say something and nothing had worked thus far.

Just when they were beginning to think they had made a mistake with the speech centre of Shadow's brain, one of the woman scientists walked in with a flower sticking up out of her pocket, a gift from her boyfriend. Shadow recognised the variety out of the books they had brought him; simply raised a finger at it and stated; 'Tulip.'

"At last!" Eggman proclaimed in utter glee, rubbing his hands together with relish as finally the door pulled open enough for his large bulk to squeeze through. "Grandfather, don't disappoint me!" With that he thrust a fist into the air and 'Yahoo'd' before he hurried inside, vanishing into the darkness. His two robots were not far behind. Shadow hesitated again, fear spreading through him. What lay beyond this door? Would it aid him, or destroy him? Anything was possible when Gerlad was concerned. He shot Tikal a glance. Her face was emotionless before she smiled playfully at him. He sighed out-load before turning and with her hand in his they advanced into the next chamber.


	3. The Mobius Ring

"Just what the hell is this!" Vector laid the paper down angrily on the table, folded his arms and proceeded to pace the length of his apartment. Espio glanced up at the paper's mail title. Printed in big black letters were the words "DRAGON HOAX"

"Hoax?" Vector demanded out of the air around him still fuming. "How the hell can they say it was a hoax? Even the cops saw it!"

Espio ignored the crocodile's ravings and took up the paper. According to the story, what people saw on the road that day had not been the fire breathing legend but rather an elaborate hoax pulled off by an obscure special effects company. They didn't even mention the fact that it had been a corpse before trying to fly away, that it had torn its way out of the back of an ambulance spitting fire everywhere or that a military ambulance with men in bio-containment suits had arrived to take the body away after Chaotix had done the cops job for them. The chameleon wasn't even sure he was reading about the same event that he and the others had witnessed. This was a blatant and poor attempt at a cover-up and anyone who had seen it for themselves could tell that. What amazed Espio was that the media was buying it! Clearly someone on the production team was having their strings pulled by the military.

"Great, just great." Espio muttered with a flat expression. "Cover ups, people turning into Dragons. I feel like I've just stepped into a low budget horror flic."

"And all you got is this ID card?" Beck asked bringing the card they had found in the clothes discarded by the creature up to eye level. "Doesn't have too much personal information and we can't expect Hexagon to hand over their employee registry." He squinted at the card. "Especially for those with level ten clearance."

"There could be hundreds of 'Henry Pattersons' in this state alone." Rei remarked looking at the name on the card.

"He was in our apartment building when it all started." Vector pointed out. "That narrows it down quite a bit." Espio glanced up at their leader with an expression of alarm.

"You can't possible be serious? You're investigating all this?"

"What sort of detective would I be if I didn't?" The crocodile asked him folding his arms. "Look, a guy dies in our building, mutates and turns into a dragon. I don't care much if they don't want the public ta know, for me that spells bad karma." Espio looked like he was about to argue, but shut his mouth thinking better of it. By now he had learned trying to persuade Vector not to do anything he had set himself on was a complete waste of time. Best thing to do was simply make sure the crocodile didn't get himself into too much trouble.

"It's…not really our kinda gig is it?" He found himself saying anyway. It differed from their usual detective work that was certain.

"Neither was going up into space briefly, fighting the Egg Fleet or helping save the world on several occasions." Vector replied in a callous remark. "But we ended up doing it anyway."

"Under your insistence." Rei laughed from across the room.

"Trying to impress Vanilla, get her to go out to dinner. Although I think rabbit gives people indigestion." Beck announced putting a hand across his mouth immediately afterwards to silence a chuckle. Vector blushed even under his green scales.

"Knock it off!" He hissed at them. Charmee, who had been sitting on the roof rafter that lanced across the top of their flat's living room couldn't contain his giggling anymore and broke out laughing with the other two.

"Yeah, he was so desperate to date her I bet he would have jumped the grand canyon on a pogo stick." Rei added in. "Vector and Vanilla, sitting in a tree…" Tickled by the intense childish humour, Charmee rolled over in fits of laughter, fell off the rafter and landed with a soft thud on the sofa. "K…I…S,"

"Alright that's it!" Vector proclaimed hurling himself after them. Both Beck and Rei dropped what they were saying in mid sentence and bolted for the relative safety of the kitchen. Espio shook his head and retrieved the card they had nearly trampled into the floor. Apart from name, age and the fact he was employed by Hexagon the card wasn't telling them much at all. What really bothered him now was that paper report. If someone was censoring what they reported on, they clearly they knew more about what was going on then Chaotix did. It would probably be a good idea to find out who this someone was. Besides, being an avid believer in free press, Espio would have a few things to say to someone who thought they could use control like that.

"Now if you're quite finished playing." He remarked as Vector paused to catch his breath. "I think we should divide our efforts. We can check whoever's pulling the strings in the news." He cast Beck and Rei peeking their heads out from around the kitchen door a glance. "And the children over there can follow what they can on this 'Henry Patterson' guy."

"What I getta do?" Charmee asked, peeling himself off the sofa and buzzing in the air. Something had to be found to keep him busy or he'd follow one of them around all day.

"Why you go with Beck and Rei." Espio asked, before glancing past the bee to the frantic negative signs in the air Beck was making. "And before we head off, see what kinda vibe you can get from this thing Rei." The flying squirrel reached over and was handed the ID card.

As soon as the card was in his hand, Rei's eyes were opened once more. But the vision running through his head was not as pleasant and fleeting as the others had been. This one lingered painfully, burning his mind like fire. No…not just any fire…Dragon fire.

Flames danced around him, burning without end; their searing heat forcing him to cover his face with his arms. Out of their midst it came, an armoured and horned head on a end of a long scaly neck, a fleshy sail of skin passing underneath from the end of the chin to the centre of the chest. On all fours it crawled through the flames, it's red and brown scales immune to the searing touch. All of a sudden the colossal form arched back on its hind legs, the forelimbs spreading out to reveal the claws tapered off long into a pair of colossal bat like wings. Into the air it emitted a screech, the mouth lined with two rows of shark like teeth.

From amidst the armoured scales a pair of blood red eyes glared down at Rei, a reptile like silt for a pupil slowly rotating around to lock directly onto him before narrowly horizontally. Then, the vision ended and Rei found himself back standing before the others, his face bearing the instantly recognisable expression of utter shock.

"Rei… you in there?" Beck asked. The flying squirrel blinked and shuddered involuntarily.

"Whoa…" Was all he could manage.

* * *

- 

Spreading out before them was a wide oval shaped chamber that dipped down in the middle like an arena. The colossal ceiling above was curved concave as well, a large stone spike lancing down like a stalactite towards the centre of the floor. Everything was swallowed by darkness that hadn't been disturbed for over fifty years. Whatever details the room had been obscured by tall unending shadows. What grabbed their attention at once was the floor just before them; each slab of stone that made the floor up had been painstakingly engraved with mosaic like patterns, runes and other glyph like symbols.

"What… what is this place?" Eggman asked with wide confused eyes. He'd been expecting a laboratory his grandfather had hidden from the military. If this was a lab it did not match his imaginings. Shadow stared off into the darkness hoping to catch something with a glare, anything that might pick out anything distinctive. He took a step forward and as he did, his foot touched one of the stone panels on the floor. Instantly the engraved symbols on the surface began to glow bright neon blue, beams of light lancing upwards through his foot.

The sound of churning devices echoed through the arena and one by one, the panels on the floor began lighting up blue, each one in succession away from him until they looped once around the entire chamber. Then with a loud shunting, the stone spike that stood out on the ceiling began to glow, its luminescence revealing the entire arena. Now bathed in light they could see it completely. Everything, the walls, the ceiling and the floor were engraved with those same strange patterns and now he could see them completely, Shadow recognised a few. He had observed them on the Battle Station Armageddon. Various places on the place had been ridden with these markings. Was it some sort of Fesonian language?

_"Doctor, look down there!"_ Bocoe announced, pointing off to the centre of the arena. Directly below the glowing spike was a ring like pit that dropped down into the ground almost at a ninety degree angle. Wrapped around its edge was a collection of wires, cables and metallic pipes that fed into various pieces of equipment stacked around it. All of these looked completely out of place amongst the stone architecture. Eggman darted down the slope towards it as fast as his physique would allow, his two robots lackeys close behind.

Shadow and Tikal remained perfectly still, gazing down at the centre in complete silence. The black hedgehog finally turned to give her a sharp gaze. Tikal returned it with a smile and then the two of them followed after Eggman together.

The stacked equipment around the centre was defiantly that unique to Prof. Robotnik, an almost complete match for that which could be found on the ARK space colony. For years it had remain inactive and lifeless but as soon as Eggman approached, it just seemed to spontaneously come back to life. Holographic displays buzzed on and off in a chaotic pattern around in a circle in the air above. The words; rebooting system appeared briefly before disappearing, other displays taking their one second to exist. By the time Shadow and Tikal reached the bottom, the machinery had finished warming itself up.

There was a brief flash of light that shot up from a projector inside the machine and Eggman found himself staring upon the face of his grandfather and Shadow that of his creator.

"Since the only one capable of reaching this place without destroying it is the end result of Project Shadow, then it is safe to assume this is who this message will address." Eggman had obviously inherited his facial features from the man. A short round face with hooked nose, balding and a short flap of fat under the chin. Even the moustache appeared to be a greyer version of the doctor's.

The holographic Gerald was floating there before them with his arms behind his back and a smile over his face. It appeared just as Shadow remembered him; a white laboratory coat, starched pale pants and polished black shoes. "Also, I can assume that if you are watching then you were successful and the evil that had cast a shadow over my entire life has been defeated." A thicker smile spread over his face. "I'm am not so arrogant than to assume my efforts and manipulations to prevent it's rise will prevail but, in the event they do, I leave this recording behind to explain a few things that even I myself by perplexing at times."

The long dead scientist hesitated as if unsure of where to begin. "It's not easy to put into words what I've discovered and investigated during the past year and it would take far too long to explain it all, so I'll just have to limit myself to the important things." He gestured upwards with his arms spread wide. "This place, as I suspect you've already guessed, is not of my own creation.

It is the remains of a settlement constructed eons ago on Earth by the descendants of the marooned crew of the battle station I discovered beneath Station Square. This was partly the reason I bought the house above as it sits almost directly on top of it. Here I conducted research on the people who created it and found them to be quite fascinating a species. Lizard like, at least in design and skin texture. Warm bloodied, bi-pedal and exceptionally intelligent; the best way I can describe them from finding one of their skeletal remains is an evolved raptor. Like us, they had individuality and genetic diversity. No one of their kind is actually the same as another.

As you can expect, I didn't share these finds of mine with anyone. I can't be sure who I can trust at this stage. Foundation agents have infiltrated all levels of Government. I can't even trust the CIA anymore." Shadow hissed angrily out through his nose. The Foundation and their dark master had cast a strode of darkness over the whole of his life. If they had never been around, both Gerald and Maria might still be alive.

What is done, can not be undone; a voice in the back of his head told him. He scolded it quietly. He knew that already, but he was still entitled to wish it wasn't all the same. "But that isn't important right now." Gerald managed back recovering his smile. "As I was saying, these aliens are from a planet in an entirely different spiral arm to our own. It's an unthinkable distance away; an ocean world or at least a wet environment, if I read their physiology correctly. They are divided into two factions, one called the Confederate Army and the other the Black Arms sect; or at least that's what I translated from their scriptures at any rate.

It was the Black Arms who were in control of the battle station below the city when it crashed and it was their interaction with primitive humans that lead to the rise of man. Their influence helped shape civilisation throughout the earliest half of history. Regarded as gods they helped found some of the most famous religions and empires on the planet. That little nugget of information you had best keep to yourself." Gerald chuckled lightly. "Most people will take offence if you tell them their god or collection of gods are aliens long since dead." The brief image of him marching into a church and announcing to the congregation that god was an alien from outer space danced across Shadow's mind and he banished it. "Around 500BC, I believe they died out on this planet and mankind was left to fend for itself. Their legacy remained behind, buried beneath the earth for centuries.

Technology the likes of which makes anything I could invent look pitiful. I have no doubt that the dark master of the Foundation and these aliens are connected in some way but I do not believe these beings to be evil. It is a shame I will not have time to dedicate to this mystery." His face bore a brief moment of realization before he scratched the back of his head absently. "Ah yes; before I forget, I have to show you what you undoubtedly came here to see." His other hand came out and typed away at some panel outside the range of the holographic recorder. A moment later, a ring of white light shot up from the pit behind him; shooting up out of the void to strike the stone spike above them. Eggman and his two robots staggered back in utter surprise as lightning began sparking along the width of the equipment, several angry bolts threatening to strike them. Slowly Shadow watched in silence as a golden ring about the size of a car began rising upwards.

It was emitting the light and its glow swallowing even the pillar above. It looked like a giant version of those energy rings Sonic used occasional to give himself a power boost. Dark mixtures of gold and black swirled like oil and water on its curved surface. It had no solid substance; its entire form was created out of nothing but energy. "Impressive I hope." Gerald stated with a smug smile as they all stood there dumfounded, Tikal included. "I call it, a Mobius Ring; named after the alternate world I discovered through it."

"So this is the dimensional warp gate he created." Eggman breathed, his face undisguised awe. "Incredible."

"I wish I really could take credit for its creation." Gerald began again as if anticipating the statement years before hand. "But sadly, even I can't create something like this on purpose." He sighed, removed his glasses and cleaned them with a piece of clothe from his pocket. "Like many great things, this was discovered completely by accident, a bi-product of my earliest experiments into Chaos Control.

It was through this ring I discovered the planet Mobius in a separate reality and experiments conducted upon its soil revealed dimension properties similar to our own." He replaced his glasses and turned in mid air to look directly at the ring. "So similar in fact it brings me to the conclusion that Mobius and Earth were once one planet."

"Of course!" Eggman declared looking up startled slapping his own forehead. "That's what made the merging of the worlds so easily! I'd have expected clashes in landmass and sea, but the merger was so flawless I should have suspected something like that!" Shadow stood there was silent as ever, contemplating within his own mind. The notion that the two worlds had once been one was not as difficult to accept as he supposed it should have been.

Like Eggman, he to was impressed with how utterly perfect the union of Earth and Mobius was. The odds of that happening coincidentally were astronomically low but if this was indeed the case, what force could be possibly been strong enough to tear reality itself in two in the first place? Even Krish hadn't displayed that kind of power. Anything like that would have had the ability to snuff out suns.

"It does make sense." Tikal ventured putting a forefinger and thumb to her chin. "I often wondered why Mobius and Earth were so alike. Half the mobian species half counterparts in the animal kingdom."

"I have little time left." Gerald added interrupting their thoughts. "I leave for ARK tomorrow where I will play out my facade for as long as I am able. Perhaps I will have time to stop the Foundation though I doubt it. As such, I think these will by final words." He hesitated pausing briefly, before he smiled gently. "I created you on the request of powerful evil people for a purpose not to the benefit of mankind, but when I wrote out your D.N.A sequence my intention was far different from theirs. But all of this is irrelevant now. Your life is your own.

There are many mysteries that even I don't fully understand for you to uncover which I'm sure will keep you busy for some time. Or you can find your own life, I'll not hold it against you if you do." He paused to push his glasses back up his nose. "Whatever you decide you can be sure that both Maria and I are proud of you." The message was over and the professor's form began to fade away. Shadow reached out trying to stop him from going but forced himself still. Gerald was already gone, long since dead and buried. Finally this letter from beyond the grave was gone not a single trace of Professor Robotnik left…accept for this. The black and red hedgehog looked up towards the golden ring floating in the centre of the chamber. A dimensional warping entity, made completely out of energy made solid. Those who unlocked its secrets would have the power to travel every universe at will. Who could be trusted with such power? Who would not misuse it?

No one on this planet that was for certain, especially not a certain scientist in the room with him; he would use it for conquest at the earliest possible opportunity. Gerald had been wise to conceal it from the Foundation all those years ago. With this in their possession they could have revived Krish far sooner. It was just too risky to keep it for himself.

No, the only thing Shadow could do with this burden Gerald had landed him was hide it somewhere so that no one, not Eggman, not G.U.N not even Sonic himself could ever use it. He started forwards towards the ring.

"Not so fast Hedgehog." Eggman began. Shadow froze. "This ring belonged to my grandfather and as his only surviving kin, by right of possession it is now my property." The black and red hedgehog chuckled once in his throat amused by the doctor's threat.

"Over my dead body." Shadow stated flatly before continuing forward. Eggman shrugged once.

"If you insist." He replied with a large evil smirk before pushing his sleeve up his arm and pressing a button on his wrist watch. The air around them shimmered as if intense heat was rising in thick waves.

"Shadow, look out!" Tikal shouted. The black hedgehog looked alert as he suddenly recognised it as a teleportation in progress. Sliding back over the floor the hedgehog game face to face with three of The Eggman Empire's strongest robots as they dropped out of warp space and landed before him weapons held ready. He had encountered them all before. There to his left was Metal Knuckles, the two metallic razors on each hand held up in a fighting stance. A gun cocked itself and Shadow's eyes darted to the middle robot, a round ball with thin pole like arms with the occasional piece of armour; a large laser rifle held in both hands. This was Egg Robo, one of the robots Eggman had deputed at the Emerald Grand Prix.

Last but not least on the far right was one of the E1000 series, E1004: Theta. Rebuild after its defeat in battle, this model had two flame throwers instead of two. Two of the flamethrowers for forearms stood out and another pair on each shoulder; along with several missile launching platforms on the legs and an armoured chest plate. The piece of glass they used for optics were all glowing blood red. "Kill him." Eggman sneered.

Metal Knuckles took a lunge as Shadow, who simply slid to the side with speed greatly exceeding that of the robotic Echidna. Swinging back in mid slide the hedgehog fired a Chaos Spear attack at his attacker. Metal Knuckles turned to face the oncoming energy blast before parrying it away with the back of his large forelimbs. Theta raised his arms and fired all four flames throwers at once straight at the black hedgehog.

A spiralling pillar of flames shot forth, twisting through the air like a cyclone. Shadow looked up just in time and an instant before his fur was scorched he teleported away, remerging out of Chaos Control behind Theta with a fist held ready .his blow was stopped as he had to back-flip through the air to avoid a barrage of bullets as Egg Robo had the black hedgehog in his crosshairs. Metal Knuckles slammed a metal shoulder into Shadow's side forcing him back before Theta fired several missiles through the air. Shadow fired small Chaos Spear attacks to detonate them before any reached him but one exploded too close and the inertia slammed him hard against the stony ground.

Tikal muttered incantations under her breath, making signs in the air with two fingers and out of her shadow a being made completely out of water emerged; spreading out wide arms as it took form; a pair of green eyes snapping open. Chaos finally swept out like a tidal wave, taking Metal Knuckles by surprise grabbing the robotic echidna by the shoulders and tossing it backwards. Theta fired both barrels of the flame throwers on his shoulders at Chaos while keeping the ones on his arms towards Shadow. The flames simply turned into a thick cloud of steam when they impacted on Chaos' body. In the confusion Doctor Eggman and his two robotic henchman made for the golden ring.

"Attach the teleport device." The Doctor directed and Decoe reached up and placed a small mechanical apparatus to the outside edge of the glowing ring, several wires lancing out of it and wrapping around it.

Egg Robo switched his rifle from automatic mode to laser fire and a focused beam struck Chaos on the side. This attack carved through the water demon's body like a knife and he was forced back into a pure liquid form, collapsing into a puddle on the floor spreading out wide.

Sliding back through the barrage of physical swings, pillars of flame and bullets Shadow could plainly see Eggman had upgraded them since their participation in the tournament. Well, they weren't the only ones who'd learned a thing or do since then.

"Chaos…" He began, coming to a sudden stop and crossing his arms in front of himself. Without warning his entire body was surrounded by a pulsating red glow that spread down from the tallest quill to the soles of his feet. He thrust one hand up, the energy culminating inside it and the glow increasing tenfold. "BLAST!" He slammed the fist down into the stone below and shockwave so strong that it knocked all three robots off their feet shot outwards.

Metal Knuckles and throw back so far he impacted the wall sinking into the stone. Being heavier Theta was forced back across the ground, parts of his armour being torn away by the main body and paint peeled off. It tried to anchor itself down but eventually the sheer force of it was too much and he was tossed backwards to land directly on top of Egg Robo. Tikal hit the deck just before it struck her and using her fingers to hang onto the floor was only pushed back a few feet.

"Too little too late, Shadow my boy." Eggman stated and before the shockwave could hit either him or Decoe and Becoe, he pressed the button on his wrist watch once more. The air around him and his robots shimmered and they transported away. In that same instant the device attached to the gold ring bleeped loudly and activated, synchronized with the teleport device transported its cargo away as well. The giant golden ring shimmered as if caught in a blast of intense heat before vanishing into nothing.

One by one the robots around them disappeared as well, shimmering briefly before vanishing as if they had never even been there,

High above the estate the Egg Carrier 4 was floating there waiting for its master to return, a colossal vessel with armoured plated wings on both sides; a hyper matter cannon up front and a large row of rockets at the back; thrusters out either side to aid the ship's passage too and from a planet's atmosphere. Once its internal sensors registered that the Doctor was back onboard; the initial escape program kicked in and the rockets roared to life forcing the vessel forward.

"As soon as I get this figured out, I'll be unstoppable." Eggman stated, his left hand gently running over the giant ring. "Take us back to the Eggmoon so I can get this into my lab."

_"We'll reach gravity escape velocity in ten minutes Doctor."_ Becoe replied from the bridge. The ship roared on, all sensors and security cameras unaware they had a couple of unwanted passengers. Clinging onto the back of the vessel with both hands was Shadow, his face a pit of utter darkness. Now Eggman had really made him mad. The Chaos Blast attack had used up a lot of his energy as he was unused to its drain and making the jump from the underground chamber to Eggman's ship had been even harder. Glancing to his left he saw Chaos clinging on beside him, Tikal with her arms hanging on around his shoulder. The water demon gave Shadow a glare before carrying on. The black hedgehog grunted loudly before pulling himself up after him.

* * *

- 

Getting the Blue Typhoon back into America was something they never considered they would have to do so soon. With Hexagon and G.U.N concentrating its efforts for control and fleet assembly in the States it had seemed a good idea to get the outlaw ship away from the American coastline. Yet deliberately they brought the ship to almost within radar distance of the shore. This was as far as they could go without being detected. They could try silent running, but that strategy would only work in space for a ship that flew. Chuck was working on an adaptation of Tails' holographic camouflage that would render them completely invisible to radar but it wouldn't be ready for another week or two. Until then, they came within range of immediate television and radio transmissions. When whatever 'Blaze' was struck again, they wanted to hear about it without the satellite delay.

Okida frowned as he listened to the radio, hearing one subtle attempt after another by G.U.N to discredit mobians. Probably a decision made by someone with rank trying to earn a bigger pay check from Hexagon with this, there was no other word for it, **_propaganda_**. It disgusted the major. He'd joined G.U.N to help defend what he considered to be right, only to find that those he had pledged his alliance to weren't interested in what was right at all.

Then again he supposed, briefly, that everyone had their own interpretations of what was right. Deep down he was willing to beep even the Hexagon board of directors thought they were acting in the best interests of the world. Whatever the reason, he found he couldn't follow G.U.N while on the path it was on. Interrupted from his thoughts by a hand placing itself on his arm, he looked up to see Topaz standing next to the captain's seat on the bridge of the ship.

"You looked like you were in a state of torpor." She told him with a faint smile. "Only with more frowning."

"Can you blame me?" He asked, turning up the radio next to him.

"These mobians; obviously have different morals to humankind if they feel they can justify these attacks." A voice that probably belonged to some head of state announced. "In the light of impending threats from many fronts, these acts of terrorism can not be tolerated. If they are, the result would be cultural chaos." Sick of hearing this political propaganda Okida pressed a button on the side and cut out the transmission.

"Ah." Topaz remarked finding all other words in the English language deserting her. Okida was the kind of person to be patriotic about just about anything. From her observations of the vampire bat she had learned he was someone bound by a strong moral code. But strangely that moral code could change and adapt. Evolve, was the best word that came to mind. That acted as both an asset and a weakness. "I'd have thought they'd have stopped all that by now?" Okida shook his head in response.

"Nope, still going strong. Stronger even." His frown deepened. For him, all this left a more bitter a taste in his mouth then it did the others. He was a mobian who thought G.U.N stood for everything he expected to be noble. Now not only had they stabbed him and his friends in the back they had seemingly turned on his entire kind. Topaz felt betrayal because of her past career as an officer devoting a good five years of her life to the military, for the Major it was far more resentful.

"I don't get it Topaz, one minute Mobians are their heroes and the next we're being demonised." He ran a hand through the long fur on his head. "It's like they forget everything we ever did for them." Topaz was silent for a moment.

"I'm sure it's not that bad." She found was all she could say. Okida chuckled deep in his throat.

"You haven't heard what they're saying about **_'The traitorous crew of the Blue Typhoon'_** yet." He added with a short and sly smile, a fang descending over his bottom lip.

"Traitorous what?" Topaz demanded suddenly looked irritated. "Now that's just the pits."

"I never had much of a social life." Okida stated suddenly. "So I've not much to loose by being an outlaw." He gave Topaz a side glance. "But a few people on this ship have families, friends who they can't see because if they try they'll be arrested."

"Emotional baggage." Topaz stated with a soft smile. "Believe me, Major, not even my own mother could keep me from being on this ship. Gently he kissed him on the cheek.

* * *

- 

Knuckles had been sitting in solemn contemplation for over five hours now, completely unapproachable and immobile. Rouge had tried getting his attention but he ignored her. He simply sat there with his legs and arms crossed in front of himself on top of the ruined pillar, his eyes closed and every sense bloating out the world around him. The sun was beginning to fade and stars were peeking through the dusk when he finally began moving, ending his meditation. Knuckles rarely meditated, but he found that occasionally it helped clear his mind; though his contemplating had done little to reveal to him the exact cause for the Master Emerald's disturbing behaviour yesterday. It had turned blood red for a moment and show the Echidna a vision, a vision of a dragon breathing fire consuming everything before it in flames. Mostly, he was not sure if he could entirely trust the Master Emerald anymore. It did, after all, have half of the Destroyer's soul trapped inside it. The idea that perhaps this vision was being orchestrated by him in some way had passed across the Echidna's mind. Still, the Master Emerald had only ever given him visions when a terrible danger was about to rear it's head. It had warned him of the coming of Krish but was it trying to inform him of coming evil now? Could the Echidna take the risk and ignore it on the off chance it was wrong?

During meditation he had come to a decision. Sighing out load he slid down off the top of the pillar and landed without a sound on the leaf strewn ground below. The trees around were turning brown with the coming of fall. Soon Angel Island would descend to a lower altitude and take on rains and would stay there for the duration of the winter, only rising towards the sun to shed some of the snow it would often collect. Rouge was asleep at the bottom of the pillar, leaning back against it with one arm balanced on top of her knee. Knuckles reached over to wake her up, shook his head thinking better of it and turned away. He trusted her enough to be sure she wouldn't take the Master Emerald while he was gone, besides; if his intuition was right this was a danger he would do better without having to concern himself with her safety.

"And just where do you think you're going?" She asked out load, opening one emerald green eye and fixing him with a stare. The Echidna froze in mid stride. Rouge hoisted herself up, stretching out her arms and wings until she heard and bones click. "I didn't wait here all day so you could go off without me."

"I won't be gone that long." He lied looking back. In fact, he wasn't sure if he'd even be coming back to the island this mouth or even at all.

"Sure buddy, then you won't mind a little company for the trip." The she-bat leaned on his shoulders. "You think I was born yesterday?"

"Er.."

"There's another adventure in the works isn't there?" The expression she gave him was one that told him she had already worked out mostly everything he had. And Rouge being Rouge she wasn't going to be left out of the action. "Not that hanging out with that Giant gem stone all day isn't tempting but you count me in for this little enterprise." Knuckles knew he could warn her of the danger he sensed in the near future but in the end he guessed that wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference. They had faced overwhelming danger together before. He supposed that in her view, this would be no different.

"Alright." He sighed finally. "Let's get going."

"To just where?" She asked. Knuckles hesitated, realizing he hadn't thought that far ahead yet.

"Sonic." He stated suddenly. "If anyone's at the heart of the action it'll be that guy." Even without trying the blue hedgehog found himself in some 'save the world' situation.

"You know where he is?" Rouge asked. Knuckles smiled. He placed a large hand on his head and began reading the currents of the air around him, feeling the soft vibrations against his skin; the distant howl as it twisted this way and that.

"This way." He stated suddenly before breaking intoa run, darting through the undergrowth with Rouge following close behind him. Every sense telling him where to go the Echidna soon reached the edge of the island, a good two mile drop was falling out in front of him. He paused looking back towards the centre of the Island, where the Master Emerald sat alone and unguarded. This wasn't like him, leaving the emerald completely undefended.

"You coming or what?" Rouge asked jumping past him and spreading her wings somersaulting into the air. Knuckles glanced after her, before a smile spread over his face. Spread his arms he jumped over the edge and using the rushing air under his thick dreadlocks began gliding.

* * *

- 

Blaze's eyes snapped wide open and the next instant, the red jewel in the centre of her forehead began to glow blood red, a scarlet star that pulsated brightly in the darkness of the collapsed warehouse. One of Jack's eyes opened lazily as the light fell upon his sleeping body, before he bolted up in an instant despite his large size. Blaze held a paw up as several of her warriors rushed over, silencing their questions before they even left their mouths. Gently she laid two fingers on the stone and closed her eyes again. It had glowed in response to the Arcanum, the two were connected. One could sense the other. A connection had been made and if Blaze was quick enough, she could read that connection to find…yes! Her eyes snapped open, a thick smile spreading across her lips. Barley contained excitement buzzing on her features.

"We leave in half an hour." She stated flatly rising from her sitting position, telekinetically wrenching the claymore out of the sheath on her back. The hilt flew to her hand and she began examining the blade for any chips and scratches. Jack nodded once and leapt down to the ground floor, shouting orders to the other felines to gather their weapons. Bows and quivers, swords and shields along with loosened armour were gathered and equipped. This was the moment they have been preparing for.

"At least we'll be able to leave this insane world." Blaze's first officer muttered once all the warriors were ready to go. Jack himself needed no weapon, his large bulk did not have much use for a sword or axe. He fought with his bare claws.

"Our home is ravaged by the Dragon Blood, about to die and us facing incredible odds." Blaze began, using a leather strap to pin a silver bracer to her left arm. "And yet you call this world insane?"

"Better an honourable death than this stagnation." Jack replied with a wide smile that showed all his teeth.

"Spoken like a true feline." Blaze laughed, putting her claymore long sword back into its sheath. "They'll be telling stories about this quest for generations." Jack levelled his eyes forcing his smile away.

"They'd bloody better for the trouble we've had to endure."


	4. Battle of Blaze

With avenging fire burning in their souls, the felines attacked AREA 99.

Fire engulfed the entire perimeter of the base for even the alarms went off. Mech's and guard robots posted around the edge turned to see what was going on before precise slices cut them down with one swipe. Blaze was leading the charge, her sword drawn with the hilt held tightly in both hands. They moved with such speed they were inside the second defence line before bullets starting flying and these were easily deflected. Picking each of them telepathically out of the air with only her mind Blaze left all her warriors immune to attack. Missiles however tended to detonate if you so much as touched them so all Blaze could do to keep her warriors safe from their explosions was tell them to scatter. Responding to the alarm several Yahger Mech's raised out of lifts in the ground, their missile platforms already as the ready as they lifted up.

"Halt in the name of G.U.N." One of the pilots declared from a loud speaker but none of the felines weren't listening to him. They only had one thing on their minds right now. Jack threw himself through the air and landed with a thud against the glass covered cockpit of the mech, driving one thick arm through it and grabbing the pilot's shirt. The human screamed as the feline tossed him violently outside to a twenty foot fall to the ground. Jack disliked these machines of war but he was not a fool, he was aware of the damage they could cause and their potential for battle situations. Managing to get his muscle bound body inside the cockpit; he quickly scanned through the rows of buttons and levers until he located the weapons systems.

The Yahger turned sharply and fired two missiles into the Raptor Mech at its left hand side. The Walker's armoured leg exploded in a spray of fiery debris and metallic fragments.

Impressed by her first officers initiative Blaze carried one, slicing two Laser Hunter robots in half as they rose up to challenge her advance. They were close now, very close; she could literally feel the Arcanum from here. She didn't need the glowing stone on her forehead to remind her anymore.

Several machine-gun turrets on the outer edge of the base itself rotated around and opened fire on her, the air suddenly thick with a barrage of bullets. Blaze used her shield to block most of them and dodged the rest. Reaching out with her mind she tore those weapons apart with her telekinetic abilities and one a suitable gap had been punctured in the defences, she alone leapt through leaving her warriors to keep the Apes distracted.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" Two searchlights lanced out of the darkness and locked onto her, leaving the feline exposed. Her ears flicked forward at the sound of guns cocking before she ducked under streams of gunfire. Somersaulting up, she threw her weight along a wall and started running; the momentum keeping her horizontal she darted across the courtyard towards the buildings in the centre; several thick metal doors rising to bar her progress. Robots chased after her, lasers and bullets filling the air like angry wasps.

"Be gone metal beings!" She announced, drawing occult runes in the air two fingers and unleashing a spell; elemental fire burning through the sky before crashing into two Beetles scorching the paint off them before they melted together, collapsing to the ground.

Five laser hunters charged her from her right and the solider Apes at her left. She went for the soldiers first as they were weaker and using one of them as a shield against the laser fire from the robots Blaze, carved her way through the protective body armour of the others before sliding to the left of the robots. They tried to attack her but she was inside their effective range of fire too quickly ramming her sword through their chest plates before they could move. Swinging her body about in mid air she brought her blade across their middles sharply slicing them in half across the waist.

Without warning a dark shadow began to bloat out the light from the sky above. Glancing up sharply she was meet with the sight of another of those loud, although admittedly impressive looking, flying ships she had seen the Apes using. All she could see was the hull and it was completely white, curving in around the mid section before branching out in a huge engine at the back. The front was cone shaped and gold, a triple runway lining the top.

Jack noticed it as well, turning his captured Mech around to see the colossal ship floating there. A second later something rammed hard into the walker's legs and it toppled over landing with a loud thud, Jack was thrown clear of the cockpit, rolling roughly along the ground until he came to a stop. Glaring up angrily he saw a slim figure standing over him with its arms crossed in front of itself. Long blue fused quills lanced down from the back swaying gently in the wind. A pair of emerald green eyes in the middle of a grinning face stared down at the feline.

"Don't suppose you're gonna just surrender?" Sonic the hedgehog asked. The Blue Typhoon had been monitoring the excess communication chatter from G.U.N and picked up the distress call from the base. Determined to stop this before it got out of hand, here they were.

The large feline lunged at him throwing a punch forward. The blue hedgehog easily dodged it, a simply sweep of his leg knocking Jack's feet out from under him. "Didn't think so." Sonic sighed as Jack drew a long hunting knife from his armour and with a loud battle cry lunged forward.

Several felines went running over to his aide but were blocked by the shaft of a war hammer, the hilt in the hand of a pink hedgehog barring their path. One of them tried to push past and Amy trapped his arm skilfully in her twirling weapon before spinning him back over her head to slam him into the ground.

Others charged at her with swords. Their swings she parried away with simply reflexes of her hammer before darting past them with a sudden arch of her weapon that sent them both flying up into the air. One tried to grab her from behind by anticipating the movement she ducked under the lunge and brought the blunt end of her hammer back sharply into the groin of her attacker. There was a loud yelp and the feline backed off, his eyes wide and legs crossed.

"Hey not bad Amy." Sonic commented dodging Jack's dagger with ease. She smiled and made a 'V' sign with her fingers at him. Another feline armed with a war axe made a lunge at Amy, only to have his attack stopped as Hare grabbed him by the shoulders and tossed him back across the ground to slam directly into the ruined remains of a Mech.

"You should watch your back in a fight." The rabbit like mobian commented dryly before throwing himself into the fray with his large hands held aloft.

"Watch your own." The pink hedgehog replied with a frown, more embarrassed with herself for letting that attacker get so close than at Hare for his quip. Explosives flew through the air and Bean and Bark arrived on the battlefield, the duck already armed with his almost legendary arsenal of things that went boom. Bark's physical strength a match for any feline, the polar Bare tore his way through their warriors. But the felines were more resilient than the robots they were used to fighting. Driven on by some fanatical impulse they kept getting back up and no matter how hard they hit them they refused to back down. Jack was the worst of them; his attacks were guided by anger and extremely powerful. Slow, but powerful. One time as he threw his dagger forward his entire arm embedded itself in the side of a collapsed Nova mech before he yanked it free tearing the metal.

Several laser hunters rose up looking around. They were on orders to destroy all intruders and at the moment those intruders numbered many. Their rifles rose into firing positions and unloaded their ammunition straight at them. Sonic looked back in time before hitting the deck. Jack on the other hand had been too focused on his opponent and blind to all else around him, let the volley hit him directly in the back. Yelling out loudly he dropped to his knees, the dagger flying from his hand.

Blaze watched unmoving and silent as another of the Metal Giants, or as the Apes called them: Mech Walkers descended from the flying ship to land directly in front of her. It was the same shape as the one Jack had commandeered, but was blood red opposed to the usual desert gold. A large blue star had been painted on the side.

"Ok, that's far enough." The pilot announced; the search lights on the top locking onto her as the two missile platforms on the robot's shoulder moved forward ready to fire. Major Okida studied her target from inside the Mech. She looked mobian but he had never seen this breed of cat before.

With the Arcanum so close Blaze was not about to suffer any interference, not from anyone. With swiftness that deified Okida's own gunslinger instincts Blaze shot forward and landed a kick into the searchlights on his Mech leaving him in the dark. His Yahger Mech staggered back and around trying to see where his target had been a moment ago. Suddenly he heard a shunting sound and looked up in time to see a sword start peeling back the armoured plating above the cockpit. Grabbing his gun in time, Okida fired several shots up through the opening hole nearly hitting Blaze in the face. The feline shot back as Okida soared out with a kick that hit her across the chin nearly knocking her off the side. Her hand lashed out at the last moment, grabbing the edge and leaving her dangling there. Angrily, she sheathed her sword across her back and using the now free hand grabbed Okida's foot and dragged him off the edge with her. His large wings unable to keep him aloft the major toppled down towards the ground; facing a painful crash the wings opened just in time and his landing was cushioned. Now with her enemy on the ground, Blaze dropped down, rebounding off the side of the Mech to slow herself down.

The two opponents faced each other, Okida armed with a one handed shotgun and Blaze with a claymore. Both were skilled with the weapons they held; the major an accomplished gunslinger and the feline an expert swordsman. This they each sensed of their opponents and they began circling each other carefully.

"You are not an Ape." Blaze stated looking the vampire bat over. With his large leathery wings, large pointed ears and chestnut brown fur he was clearly not one of her enemy. "Yet you fight for them. Why?"

"Ape?" Okida repeated. "You mean the humans?" The feline hissed at him in response.

"Humans, mankind, humanity; whatever they call themselves but my question still stands, why do you fight for them?" The major managed a small smirk at her.

"Why are fighting against them?" Blaze shut her mouth and fixed her yellow eyes on him.

"My reasons are personal." She replied, telekinetically wrenching the sword from its sheath to her hand; gripping the hilt tightly. The major stopped suddenly, putting himself between her and the lock down doors to the centre of the base.

"This little jihad's hurting more people than the G.U.N pilots you put in the emergency ward." Okida explained, hoping that perhaps for once he could simply persuade an enemy to stop instead of having to resort to violence. Besides, this cat had ripped her way through dozens of robots and guards to get this far and against her skills his Mech would prove useless. The major feared that he wouldn't fare much better than the guards had.

"I'll do worse to those trying to stop me." Blaze snarled back. "I'm here to take back something that does not belong to them. Now get out of my way!" Okida was the one to act first, firing several shots at her. Blaze blocked them with the blade of her sword before darting in. Using his wings to push him around in mid air the vampire bat dodged the slashes flying up into the sky and using the vantage point fired several shots in succession all her. This one was not like the guards who simply pointed their weapons and pulled the trigger, Blaze was quick to realize that when he found his shots tired her out as she defended herself. He was just a good a marksman as she was.

Okida suddenly found that his arms and legs no longer obeying his requests. Blaze had grabbed him out of the air using telekinesis before slamming him hard into the ground. Tears forming at the edge of his eyes, Okida glanced up to see a sword blade come right at him. Rolling to the side the claymore struck the ground to his left. Shooting back up to his feet the major swung his leg around sharply striking Blaze across the chest. The feline shoot backwards, recoiling from the blow. No one had ever recovered from her telekinetic grip that quickly before.

"Hey why are they shooting at **_us_**?" Bean asked out load, running away from a horde of Laser hunters charging after him firing lasers that struck the ground around the duck, the dirt exploding into a shower around him.

"Who cares? They just are so keep your head down!" Hare replied, ducking behind a collapsed Yahger Mech as the bullets and lasers started flying. The felines quickly took covered as well as Laser Hunter reinforcements from the base began pouring out onto the perimeter.

"Surrender in the name of G.U.N." One of the robots declared loudly as their numbers began swelling to over fifty; all lined up a firing squad trying to hit those who had not already taken cover. Some of them had already starting opening fire at the Blue Typhoon above the base but with its shields not a single blast made it through to the vessel itself.

"No thanks; but have this in the name of Whoop-ass!" Hare cried over, grabbing one of Bean's explosives and tossing it through the air to land behind the robot's lines. The resulting explosive threw five of them out into the firing range of the others to be riddled with holes by their friendly fire. Hare managed a smirk but that faded under the glare of Bark beside him.

"Whoop-ass?" The Polar Bear asked sceptically.

"Hey I'm under pressure here I couldn't think of a better retort." The rabbit like mobian replied with a shrug.

"Hate to break up this little conversation…" Bean began, looking out from behind their shoulder. "But we've got incoming!" Hare glanced out as well to followed the duck's gaze. Within seconds he didn't even need to search the skies for what he was talking about as the loud whirring of chopper blades was quickly increasing in volume. There were dozens of them, large military carrier style ones with two sets of blades; one at the front and one at the back. They all had G.U.N's logo on the side.

Okida's shot nearly struck Blaze as she spun sideways to dance around them. Deflected off her sword blade, he sent them rocketing back. Okida soured through the air, rebounding off the side off his Mech before coming down hard with a flying kick. His boot never made it to it's intended target as Blaze seized him out of the air with her mind and tossed violently against the ground. A pounding thump repeated itself several times inside her head as he let go. She had used telekinesis too many times to day and it's nasty side effects were beginning to show.

Okida just seemed to bounce off the ground like a spring, rocketing back with an upper cut across her jaw sending her flying. Adrenaline running through his body the major darted forward as he landed with several kicks before pinning her arms by her sides.

"Now…are we…gonna talk or what?" He asked out of breath. The tip of his fangs glinted brightly in the partial light, sending the wrong message. Blaze growled angrily tying to force herself free. With surprisingly strength she whirled out of his grip, took hold of him by the shirt and tossed him over her head to slam him directly into the floor. Acting on utter instinct, Okida's hand whipped out at the last second and he grabbed her sword. Before she could duck or dodge, the blade wiped around and sank itself into her left shoulder.

Blood flew everywhere, splattering down Okida's front and all over Blaze's armour. Rearing her head back she screamed out load, the tip of the sword embedded deep in her flesh. The rush of adrenaline fading, the major finally realizing what he'd done and panicking wrenched the sword free. Blaze tore backwards collapsing to the ground, a deep wound thick with blood that stained her fur stood out. Her hand pressed against it, the feline lay there struggling for breath. "I…I didn't…mean…" Okida began, dropping the sword with a loud clatter. Blaze's eyes shot open, pulsating with a thick yellow glow. Instantly the major's body was picked up off the ground, hovered in the air for a single moment before being thrown violently against the side of his mech. His bones striking metal, the major felt muscles twist impossibly and bone fracture before he was dropped like a stone to the ground.

Blaze hoisted herself up, blood running through the fingers she held to her shoulder. Silently, she forced a healing spell upon herself. But her strength was waning. She hadn't enough to fully heal the wound, only keep it from killing her. The blood kept running. Picking up her sword she turned towards the entrance to the base. Despite the injury she would keep going. The Arcanum was so close now, she would be damned if she let this stop her now.

"What the hell are they?" Chuck asked in bewilderment from the Blue Typhoon staring out at the choppers landed a short distance away from the base, their back doors opening and they began unloading their strange looking cargo. Dozens of soldiers went out to form ranks first, followed by something none of them had ever seen before. They were defiantly Mechs of some kind but not or a sort any of them were familiar with. They were four legged and each leg had a ten foot protective shield attached at the joint. It looked like an insect, with a small central body in the middle. On the back of the walking machine, like all G.U.N Mech's, were two missile launcher pads. Their feet were large and fat, with three curving segmented toes branching out left and right. They each landed on the ground with thuds that trembled for miles before moving forward, marching like some bizarre metal ant. They reinforced the soldiers as they climbed into jeeps lowered from the choppers, their numbers now far exceeding anything those fighting on the ground could cope with.

"Creepers." Topaz stated suddenly gaining everyone's attention. "They were in the experimental stage when I left G.U.N. They were made from the same technology used to create the Metal X Spiders." Chuck blinked and looked back. Now that he thought about it, their design did remind him of Metal Sonic's large destructive walkers. As they charged missiles began firing from their launcher pads, dozens at a time; riddling the ground before the base with holes as fire spread out through the air. Several of them broke off from the main group, herding themselves into a tight circle they rotated their large bulks around until they were facing the Blue Typhoon directly. One after the other they anchored their back legs down before launching an intense missile barrage into the shield surrounding the ship. It held, but just barely; the inertia from the attack shaking the entire vessel. "I think we had better go." Topaz added, gripping a chair to stop herself from falling over.

"I think you may be right there." Chris replied, running his fingers running instantly over the console of the intercom system; opening a communications channel to the small devices everyone on the ground had to keep themselves informed. "Ok guys, I think now would be a good time to leave."

"Gee." Hare remarked into his ear piece as missile and laser fire exploded around him eroding his shelter down to nothing. The ground exploding all around as bullets and explosives flew through the air. "Ya think?"

Jack hoisted himself up, his back burning as more the tired muscles underneath the skin strained with him. All around was chaos, his feline companions deciding to take after their leader and make for the base. Once the Arcanum was back in their hands they could simply transport back home away from the Apes and their blasted war machines. Refusing to let himself get left behind he broke into a run, ignoring the screaming pain his body forced on him in protest.

Blocking his path were several laser hunters and a Zeus robot, the latest robot Hexagon had off the production lingered; a behemoth of metal with twice the fire armaments of the previous models. Despite his large size Jack moved with agility and speed that dazzled their targeting systems and reaching them, he ripped them apart with his bare hands before carrying on.

A missile streamed through the air after him and looked back, Jack afforded himself just enough time to dodge it but the explosion took place to near to him and the resulting shockwave hit him hard. He yelled out as the inertia threw him back through the air to smash his body into the ground. The feline hit his head hard against something and his sight began to blur. Furiously he tried to remain conscious but eventually fatigue and injury won out and he collapsed onto his front. The last thing he saw before he faded away as a Polar Bear and a green duck running towards him. Then there was only darkness.

Sonic shot through the ruined entrance to the base, finding the shattered remains of robots and even human guards lying everywhere. There had been some fighting here alright. Glancing up, the blue hedgehog sighted the top of Okida's red Yahger Mech sticking over a wall. His legs a blur, Sonic shot forward dodging around walls and through a large arched entrance that used to have a large metal door covering it. The Major was hoisting himself up a ladder that ran all the way from the bottom of his Mech to the cockpit at the top. His movements were slow and twice he stumbled. It didn't have a genius to work out that he was injured in someway. That and the trail of blood leading from a point on the ground to the bottom of the ladder was a dead give away.

"Hey Okida, you ok?" Sonic called up. Okida looked back and the blue hedgehog staggered back at the sight of him. His shirt and brown jacket were darkened with blood; his fur freshly stained.

"I'm fine." The major replied, tightening his grip on the ladder. He noticed Sonic staring at the blood running down his front. "Don't worry, not of it's not my own." Of course, that was the part of it that made Okida himself fell so bad. Blaze had no weapon, armed only with her bare hands. Yet he'd struck her with her own blade

His body ached from the abuse it had taken, protesting passionately against him as he forced it up into the ladder. "Go, one of them went into the base." He jabbed a finger off towards the entrance. Sonic followed his gaze to the base's main entrance, the large lock down doors had been sliced in half their remains scattered inside the corridor within. A trail of bloody footprints led inside and from their pattern Sonic could tell whoever made them had run like a bat out of hell. "Get her before she gets what they came for." Okida added reaching the top of his mech.

"Her?" Sonic repeated. "You got whipped by a girl?" Okida did not take the jest with the intended humour and growled at the blue hedgehog. "Easy, easy." Sonic added with a short smile. "I'll check it out; you get yourself back to the Typhoon." The major nodded once and dropped down through the carved hole in his Mech's cockpit. As the Yahger's jets took the war machine up into the air, Sonic shot off for the bases entrance; darting past the lockdown doors all of which had been systematically ripped off their hinges, the scorched remains of security camera hung on the walls slowly turning to ash. The trail of bloody footprints lead on, heading deep into the base; some of the tracks still quite fresh. Whoever it was had been juried badly, that Sonic could tell with his eyes closed and yet they'd still managed to do extreme damage to anything that got in it's way. Sonic glanced down briefly at the torn remains of a Laser Hunter robot lying in a crumbled pile by a wall.

* * *

-

The last door fell inward and Blaze was met with a most welcome sight. The chamber beyond had several advanced security systems the Apes insisted on coating everything they pilfered with, but through them Blaze caught sight of the Arcanum. At last, there it was! A giant crystal shaped jewel twice as big as herself; glowing softly yellow; kept in place by several metal straps that held to the wall. The jewel in the middle of her forehead nearly blinded her with its light as it so near the source of its own power. The stinging feeling of fatigue caught up to her again as she began painfully aware once more of the wound in her shoulder and neck.

The strike had left her weakened and the excessive use of magic and telekinesis she had employed to get her had left her near collapsing point, yet if she could just get to the Arcanum then all would be well. She tried to call its power from this distance but she was still too far away, she had to be closer still in order to use it. Growling she called upon whatever power she had left, mustering it into one last destructive spell. Her eyes glowed brightly flaxen yellow as one by one, the laser security reds tore themselves up, gun turrets exploded and the electrified floor rippled before her and became immobile.

That jolt nearly cost her dearly and she collapsed to her knees, blood falling from her wound to collect in a small puddle below. You are a leader, some voice within Blaze's mind shouted at her; you can not show weakness. Defying pain she hoisted herself up and staggered forward across the ruined floor, using her sword as a walking stick to prop herself up. As she neared she felt the Arcanum's warming presence, feeding her magical and telekinetic powers; the two puncture wounds on her neck closing up.

Someone whistled from behind her and sharply Blaze shot round to face their disturber. A blue hedgehog stood there, leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded; a set of fused quills hanging out behind him.

"Hey there." Sonic greeted with a simple nod of his head. Blaze shot forward and found herself slicing through thin air as Sonic dodged her swing with ease, sliding to a stop across the room next to the Arcanum. "Don't tell me this is what you came here for?" He gestured towards the crystal above, completely oblivious to its true significant. "All those attacks and you're a bunch of jewel thieves?"

"I'm not the thief." Blaze snarled, driving her sword forward trying to impale Sonic on the blade. Sonic slapped the point of the weapon aside with a sharp flick of his wrist and as Blaze drew level, he smacked her down with a blow to the back of her head. In her weakened state the feline toppled forward and hit her face against the wall.

"Trust me girlie, you're outclassed." Sonic muttered tapping his foot impatiently. Suddenly the feline hoisted herself back up and whirled around, her face a pit of utter darkness and her eyes glowing bright yellow.

"That I doubt!" She snarled, calling forth the power of the Arcanum. The crystal glowed with her eyes, its energy channelling itself through the air and into her body. Before he could even speak Sonic was picked up by her enhanced telekinesis and slammed repeatedly against any solid surface available before Blaze brought him close to her and smashed several punches into his face and finishing it with one finally kick that sent him crashing to the floor. The hedgehog rolled for a distance before coming to a stop. All that had happened in the space of a few seconds and after it was over Sonic was left lying there stunned.

"Ow…." was all he managed to mutter with his face down on the floor.

"Now… for the last time..." Blaze began, her breathing drawn out and hard. "Will you all **_please_** stay out of my way?" Turned with carried on back towards the Arcanum and upon reach it, she raised a hand to her forehead and removed the small jewel. Clasping it firmly between two fingers, she simply pressed it against the side of the Arcanum.

Outside even the robots stopped and stared as a beam of solid light lanced up from the centre of the base to strike the sky, clouds swirling around it.

Deep within the base however, something stirred. The power surging above it could feel; a silent call to the dinner table. A large yellow eye slid open with a loud wet slap, the pail contracting at the light. All its fellows were dead, having been forced to feed off each other to survive being coped up inside here. It was the only one left. Heaving its large bulk up, it turned towards the large bulk head door baring its way. Blaze nearly lost her foot when it rammed the door, forcing it back; and then again each time it did the ground for miles shook like an earthquake.

"What the hell is going on?" Hare demanded looking around in bewilderment. Even the Creeper Mech's had stopped their attacks, their pilots equally as confused. The felines stopped on the battle field, the ground beneath their feet trembling. Suddenly a loud screech broke the air, a screech more than familiar to them.

"No…" Blaze muttered with wide eyes. "It can't be!" The buildings above broke open as a colossal pair of wings spread out into the sky, leathery like a bats only scaled on the outside. Okida slammed his Mech's thrusters on full and managed to rise up to the Blue Typhoon in time before the bellowing gust of wind struck the vessel. A long whip like tail crashed across the runway, any fighter planes unlucky to get its way were torn to scrap instantly.

"DRAGON BLOOD!" One of the felines yelled out in abject terror as finally a large wedge shaped, reptilian head the size of a truck heaved itself up into the air, a pair of yellow eyes shielded by a row of bony plates going down it's back and between it's wings.

"Whoa momma!" Hare began with wide eyes, his arms dropping by his sides as the beast tore itself up out of the base's interior in a spray of brick dust and flying mortar. The dragon was hungry; very hungry. Its last meal had been one of its own kind and their own taste was vile. So when it looked down at the base below and saw all those staring up at it in horror, all it saw was a very large buffet table.

"One of the creatures is loose!" The leader pilot the Creeper Mech's yelled. "Take it down! OPEN FIRE!" Bullets, missiles and lasers filled the air as all the gathered G.U.N forces turned to face the Dragon and opened fire; the intense barrage striking the giant lying lizard down the flanks. Swiftly it raised its right wind to block the incoming projectiles and as if it were made of steal, all of it either impacted on the surface or bounced away.

"I think we're in over our heads here." Chuck remarked as the Dragon pulled it's had back and then arched it forward, a thick glob of chemicals flying out behind its teeth. Reacting with the oxygen in the air it burst into flames, becoming a deadly ball of fire that hurtled down on top of a Creeper reducing it to cinders within moments; the pilot ejecting clear of the Mech an instant before.

"Those stupid, stupid APES!" Blaze declared, anger burning within. They had brought the Dragon Blood back to their own world. Now this realm was damned as well as hers all because of their utter stupidity. The horror that was the Dragon Blood was here and now all would burn before it.

Well, so be it. Any species that dumb deserved a free fall down the food chain. Turning, she faced the Arcanum again; it's soft crystallised outline glowing brightly. Calling upon more of it's power she began to invoke a travelling spell; carving the gate between her world and this one open. Like someone had taken a hammer to the fabric of reality itself, the air rippled around her bending impossible until finally it tore open with a sickening twist.

Sonic, despite the nagging pain spreading through his body pushed himself to his feet, watching the walls, ceiling and even the floor around him twist suddenly; swirling together like the centre of a vortex towards the crystal and Blaze. Like the water down a plug hole, any physical object stretched before being yanked downwards into it. The blue hedgehog glance dup towards the feline. Her body was surrounded by a white glow, a pulsating light that was growing stronger with each passing moment.

Outside all the felines within range of the Arcanum's magic began to glow with the same light, their outlined highlighted by pulsating white. Dimensional displacement was taking place, and channelling the energy through the jewel on her forehead, Blaze was forcing the gate open.

"Hey, knock it off!" Sonic yelled out, but the feline ignored him, her efforts concentrating themselves solely on opening the gate.

The Dragon threw its colossal tail around, smacking two Creeper Mech's off their feet and back to collide into the walkers following behind them; one could not take impact and exploded in a ball of fire. Beating it wings, the beast rose up into the air as it pried its legs clear of the buildings. Taking flight, its wing span had to be well over sixty foot or more, the long neck arching down as it flew.

The secretion it spat from its mouth catching fire in the air, brining an unquenchable fire down on the soldiers. Swinging hard to the left to stay out of its flight path, the Blue Typhoon nearly capsized in mid air as the winds created by the beating of its wings slammed hard against the hull. Seeing the ship as the only thing bigger than itself, the Dragon screeched and turned about in mid air; heading right towards the flying vessel. In its eyes, the Typhoon was a threat to its territory.

"Just what in the world is that thing?" Sam Speed asked in horror staring at the winged reptile coming right at them. Without evening thinking about it, Chuck hit the missile fire controls. Several dozen projectiles shot forth from the ship and each impacted upon the dragon's scaled thick.

Its hide was so thick not a single one of them hurt the thing. It just kept flying through the smoke coming right at them. Okida's Yahger Mech landed with a loud thud on the tip of the bow, its two missile laugher pads already primed and instantly they fired; a concentrated barrage of laser, bullets and missile fire striking the Dragon directly on the tip of the nose. With all that flying into his eyes the beast retreated several wing beats out of the Mech's range, shaking its long neck vigorously with smoke trailing from between its scales.

"Is everyone back onboard?" Topaz asked, seeing that the major had bought them a little time.

"Everyone accept Sonic." Chris replied glancing up briefly from the controls up front. By now the Dragon seemed to have recovered from the strike and Okida was out of options. His missile supply was empty and his laser batteries needed another minute to recharge. Forced to rely on bullets alone he opened fire, but they seemed as is insignificant as pin pricks to the creature, each projectile rebounding off its thick scales.

Its neck reared back before he threw itself head forward sending a thick dose of chemical spray at them which combusted mid way becoming a burning ball of flames that soured at them. The Egg shield flew up and the fire struck the projective barrier so hard the ship actually tilted backwards at the blow. It was like being struck by a concentrated round of focused artillery.

"Sonic'll just have to take care of himself." Topaz remarked, seeing that this beast was too much for the ship to handle. "Get us outta here."

"Gladly." Chuck replied taking hold of the controls. The ship lurched to the side and shot off towards the horizon at full speed, the dragon following close behind trying to get close enough to launch another fiery payload at them.

Sonic's reaction was gut instinct. Curving himself into a ball he started spinning, going faster and faster on one spot before rocketing forward. Blaze looked back just in time to see the oncoming attack before it struck. The two of them collided and in that instant the light from the Arcanum expanded swallowing them both whole. It carried on, spreading outwards at a rate that consumed the entire base within moments. From a distance it looked a Chaos Control warp, a rising hall sphere of light that kept expanding out. All the feline warriors and even a few G.U.N Creeper Mech's on the ground were swallowed one by one, vanishing into the light. The Dragon was the last to go. It glanced back as beams of light lanced past it before its body was taken over slowly; inch by inch before finally the end of its snout disappeared completely.

The Blue Typhoon would have followed had Chuck not thrown the engines into overdrive, the ship rocketing forward at a tremendous rate outpacing the expanding light. Finally the glow had stopped expanded, remaining a silent shell of light before finally it began to receded back over the ground.

"Oh my…" Chuck began glancing out the window. Everyone on the bridge followed his gaze. To their utter astonishment the entire Area 99 base had vanished. Not a single building was left, nor any signs there had ever been any. All that greeted their eyes now was an empty patch of desert. Even the shattered remains of Mech's and G.U.N robots had vanished. All that remains of the militaries presence were those helicopters and several Creepers that had been outside the perimeter of the warp.

Amy raced onto the bridge, her hammer in hand. Her quills were messed up as the sudden thrust from the engines had caused her to fall over and ruin her style.

"What just…" She began, but even as she did her gaze was attracted down to the empty space below them. Silence passed, a brief few moments of it. "Where's Sonic?" The pink hedgehog asked all of a sudden, her eyes wide.

"Hey, can someone give me a hand?" Hare called out as he entered the bridge, dragging something after him. "This guy is heavy." Topaz looked down from the captains seat to see what the rabbit like Mobian was hauling after him. It was one of the felines they had been fighting down on the desert floor. This one was larger than his fellows had been and by the way he was hanging limp as Hare dragged him, he was clearly unconscious.

The feline's fur was mostly white, with several patches of black upon his forehead down his back and along the thick tail. Armour, damaged in battle, was strapped across his forearms and shins.

Momentary stirs in Jack's consciousness were enough for the large feline to realize one thing. His comrades were gone. He had been left behind.


	5. Hexagon's Folly

Behind a thick pane of glass within the Blue Typhoon's infirmary, Jack lay on a sick bed. Still unconscious Hare and Bark had had to heave his large bulk up onto the bed so the felines' wounds could be bandaged. The battered silver armour from his torso had been removed and a thick wrapping placed over a bloody patch in his fur

"Think we can get him to talk?" Okida asked glaring at the unconscious cat from across the room.

"Your guess is as good as mine mate." Hare sighed in reply with a brief wave of a large paw. "Though the way I saw him go one on one with Sonic, we'll have a hard time keeping him down when he wakes up." Okida needed no report to tell that. He could just guess how strong this feline was by looking at the muscle mass beneath the fur.

"When he wakes up, let me know." The major stated before turning to leave. His mind was else ware. Memories of that single adrenaline fuelled moment kept passing through unbidden. Over half a day had passed now and usually the recall of battle faded pretty quickly but that single incident stubbornly refused to leave.

"Major?" Hare asked, seeing Okida pause for several seconds at the doorway. The bat blinked and shivered a little forcing himself back to reality.

"Nothing, I'll see you later." Stepping outside into the corridor with the door closing behind him.

"Sure it's nothing?" Topaz asked greeting the Major was he walked out. Okida tried to hide the melancholy expression with a fake smile.

"Yes I'm sure it's nothing." He replied walking past her. Topaz simply stepped after him.

"Nothing my foot." She insisted walking along his side. Okida quickened his pace a little but Topaz just kept up with him. "Look I'm just going to keep following you until you talk bat-boy." She told him. The major stopped dead, his arms held rigid at his side.

"I injured someone." He stated, falling deadly silent afterwards. Topaz watched his face carefully, her violet eyes staring into his. His face was angled down towards the floor.

"Was this back at the base?" She asked. Okida nodded once. "You were fighting, I thought that was the point." The major shook his head at her.

"Not when your opponents unarmed it isn't." The two of them walked in silence for the most part until they got to the recreation hall. Okida sat himself down of the sofa in front of the wide screen TV and started telling all.

"Look it wasn't your fault." Topaz told him, placing a hand comfortingly on his shoulder.

"Wasn't it?" The major asked without looking back. "She was unarmed; I had her sword and my guns. All I had to do as subdue her and what do I end up doing instead?" He slumped back against the sofa, his head rolling up to stare at the ceiling. "I stick her sword in her shoulder." Okida had always shot to wound when going up against opponents with a heart beat, never before had he delivered a fatal blow.

He felt a soft hand on his cheek.

Okida glanced up, his gaze meeting Topaz's eyes. A moment of utter silence passed between them, the two of them simply staring at each other.

"I can't tell you not to feel sorry about it, but a single mistake doesn't make you a bad person Koji." She only used his first name, marking this moment as something special.

As if it were an involuntary reaction, the Major's left wing expanded outward and then contracted back around Topaz's arms. Its touch made her shiver a little. It wasn't leathery like she would expect. A good deal of blood vessels ran like a web throughout the stretched skin and it was almost as warm as the rest of his body.

"Thank's Topaz." He sighed, apparently not noticing it. She gently stroked the back of her hand against his cheek. Being there for him had been the least she could do. He had helped her during her painful break up with Tanaka. Coming back to reality from her thoughts, she noticed exactly how close as was to Okida. She was leaning against him, his warm wing at her side.

Okida found that despite any strength of will, nothing could pry him away from those aqua blue eyes. That single moment could have lasted for a millennium. "Topaz…" The Major began. "I…" His heart was beating so hard it felt like a jack hammer inside his chest. Topaz just placed two fingers against his lips to silence him.

"Don't say anything stupid." She told him softly. "Neither of us are the settling type." She laid her head against his shoulder, that smile widening across her face as she closed her eyes. Her arm looped around his waist and rested beside him. "Live for the moment." She added before pulling him back to lie against the back of the sofa. Okida didn't protest; he couldn't. In fact he found that all words in the English languages had deserted him.

This human he had only known for a few years, but it could just as well have been all his life. His almost rigid wings relaxed and his left aloft seemed to fold over her, the touch sending shivers up his spine. Topaz just sighed and cuddled up closer to him.

Live for the moment? Her words repeated themselves several times over in Okida's mind. Then he smiled himself. Topaz wasn't ready for a steady relationship just yet, not so soon after Tanaka and that he could respect. Besides, Okida thought as he leaned back and relaxed; he was a patient guy.

* * *

- 

The doors to the bridge shunted open and Chuck walked in. To his surprise he found most of the others members of the crew crowded here.

"Hey what's going on?" He asked but they all kept their backs to him. Looking past him Chuck could see they were all staring at one of the holographic projections the ship used instead of normal monitors. They had tapped into an ordinary television broadcast. President ones was presently addressing the nation.

"This is a declaration of war against the Country." The President ranted, jabbing a finger up into the air. "Area 99 has been not only been attacked but completely destroyed and it more than evident that a ship crewed by Mobians are to blame."

"Say what?" Hare demanded with wide eyes. The image on the screen changed to show video footage.

"This is footage captured by a Mech pilot present at the base at the time of its destruction." The image slowed down and then showed clearly, despite the fuzziness, the Blue Typhoon floating over Area 99. The Dragon attacking them was off camera to the left of the screen, the end of its long tail just peeking across the side barely even noticeable. A frame later, the entire base was consumed by that white light; everything in and around it vanishing in the blast that lasted several still frames. Then, it ended and all that was left was that gigantic crater. It looked very much as if the Blue Typhoon had fired some sort of weapon at the base that had lead to its destruction.

"They're blaming us for that?" Bean asked out load not expecting anyone to answer.

"It is not more than clear that Mobians are a direct and real threat to the security of not just America, but the entire world." President Jones continued, the bright flashes from the camera of the press highlighting the wall with the American flag on it behind him. "These attacks have continued to persist and this, to be blunt, is the last straw."

"This is an outrage." Chuck angrily declared. "How they can do this? They're condemning all Mobians for a few microseconds of video tape?" He smacked a fist into his palm.

"Which is why, effective immediately; all Mobians and residents of the Planet Mobius are to be banned from most public places. Any deemed excessive security risks will be placed under arrest." There was a short silence amongst those assembled on the bridge as they all stood there, humans included, staring at the television screen in utter horror. The press on the live station also stopped and stared, all of them too stunned to even take photographs.

"This guy is out of his tree!" Sam stated with a stunned expression.

"Is this some kind of sick joke?" One of the press asked stepping forward in front of the camera still with his camera in his hands.

"No this most certainly not!" The President insisted leaning forward to give the man a sharp glare. "What's more, as Mobians pose such a high security risk, any '**_humans'_** caught trying to protest against these new measures will be placed immediately under arrest." The entire row of media present broke out in an uproar of angry shouts; the censor acting a little to late to prevent some swearing from being leaked onto live TV. Suddenly the signal was cut from the live feed and the news Presenter was sitting there, staring off screen towards a terminal on which the entire news broadcast team had been watching the addressing of the nation. Her mouth was wide open in utter shock.

"Penny, you're on!" Someone yelled out screen and the presenter brought her attention back to the camera in front of her.

"Er…well obviously we've lost the transmission there but… from what we can see it seems new….extreme measures are to be brought in of the public." The entire G.U.N army were watching the broadcast and they were not fooled for an instant. Every solider from the lowest private to the highest ranking general could tell what this was, an attempt by Hexagon to remove what it perceived as a threat to its industries. At first, the military had seen the finical backing by Hexagon as an asset they could use. Now it became clear that Hexagon was not satisfied with simply pulling G.U.N's purse strings. It wanted complete and utter control.

Commander Jericho, present head of G.U.N found that his patience had finally been expended. While Hexagon backed the military with its funds they had been prepared to ignore the odd irregularity; they had after all been the ones to supply them with the technology used to create the fleet. But this was going too far. Their paranoia had grown to extremes and Jericho doubted very much that their fears were valid.

Enough was enough.

Jericho was aged man that appeared to be at least forty but was a good decade or two older than he looked. His wrinkled skin was tanned brown and his hair shining silver, cut short into a standard military hair style. His uniform was that appropriate for the overall commander of G.U.N, rimmed with lines of rank along the shoulders and down the left side of his chest.

"You were watching General?" He asked pressing a button on his desk. The screen on the wall on which he had watched the appalling display buzzed briefly before the head and shoulders of one of the militaries most powerful general's appeared in its place, a direct video link from the Commander's officer to an outpost in the American badlands.

"Yes, so were all my men." The general replied; his brow forced into a frown. Jericho could hear the angry shouts emanating in the background. "I take it that 'now' is the time for that little thing we talked about?" The commander was deadly silent. In his blankest moment had he and the General even considered the action they were about to take, neither of them even imagining that they would ever have to put it into action. If they succeeded they would be regarded as heroes. If they lost, they would be labelled as evil.

"This is treason." Jericho reminded him.

"Treason against what?" The general asked with more than a hint of anger in his voice. "The government and democracy we pledged our lives to no longer exists. Hexagon destroyed it. This is simply a war." Jericho knew how many people looked to him for leadership. Even when Michael was President, the Soldiers of G.U.N were almost fanatical in their loyalty to their commander. He had gained a reputation through various campaigns as a man with a heart of stone. He had not been ruthless as that might suggest but he had been a man who enforced strict discipline and he on himself unwavering loyalty. Even if Hexagon was in control, it was still the United States he was considered turning on. "I can't speak for the entire G.U.N army…" The general began again. "But I can vouch for me and my men. If you decide to go against them then we'll be right behind you." Jericho was utterly silent, staring off into the void. Finally he sighed and looked back.

"I have no choice." He stated. "I can't let this continue any longer than it already has." The general sat there, waiting for the confirming words. "Contact as many heads of the armed forces as you can. Find out how many would be willing to ally with us."

"Then we move?" The general asked stilling waiting. Jericho paused, before nodding.

"Yes, we move."

* * *

- 

High above Planet Earth, in orbit on the opposite side of the world from the Egg Moon was another structure. The ARK space colony had been left abandoned for some time, yet the evidence of fighting in and around the station was more than evident. The floating remains of Eggman's robots were now caught by the ARK's gravity, keeping them floating with the station as it completed its orbit. Most of the colony was inactive, apart from a small part which Metal Sonic had restored power to. He did not have the run of the Colony as even he knew better than the tamper with the old station. The robotic hedgehog did not wish to set off an Eclipse Cannon blast by mistake. His Machine Federation destroyed, he retreated here to set up a base of operations. He had been in the midst of that endeavour when the President's message to the nation was sent out, one of the monitoring screens showing the entire address for him. If all that was just to protect the public then he was a pocket calculator.

Metal Sonic stood still watching it, his red looped eyes never moving from the screen until it was over. All around him his temporary headquarters was in complete disarray. Pipes and wires snaked all over the walls, ceiling and floor. There wasn't even proper lighting. The only source of illumination being a blinking electric lamp hanging on a wall, most of the crushed chamber was in the shadows. It was the only part of the battered colony he was able to restore power to. Unable to operate without harassment from G.U.N on Earth, here he was in his old rust bucket. It was a step down from his role as king of Metal X.

Now this was certainly interesting. The government, G.U.N especially had been regarding Mobians as a god send up until now. It seemed odd they could do a turn around this quickly without something else going on. Metal Sonic could tell that there was clearly more to this than what met the eye. The robotic hedgehog turned to look at the only thing that enabled him to work up here away from any potential enemies. The Red Chaos Emerald sat in the make shift energy chamber he had constructed, its power giving what life it could to the burnt out systems around it.

His first mission after rebirth had been to collect the Chaos Emeralds and use the ancient power to enable the Machine Federation to conquer the world, but now his intentions had changed. While he still believed that a nation of sentient mechanoids was a dream worth pursuing, more immediate concerns had to be dealt with. He, like the rest of the world, had to preparing for the arrival of the Confederate Fesonians in less than two years.

_"__Now where are you fitting into this Sonic?"_ He asked himself, putting a metal talon to his chin. He recognised the ship on the tape was the Blue Typhoon and wherever that vessel was, the blue hedgehog would not be far behind. Metal Sonic doubted very much that the President was saying was true, Sonic wasn't the sort to start blowing things up for the fun of it; at least not G.U.N property.

His mentoring alarm bleeped loudly, alerting him to the presence of a vessel exiting the Planet's atmosphere. Glancing to his side, Metal Sonic saw that the Egg Carrier 4 was pushing its way out from the Earth's gravity well and out into space. Doctor Eggman was returning to the Egg Moon, using the Ark's gravity to sling shot his ship around the planet.

Metal Sonic had ignored Eggman on his way down the first time as the robotic hedgehog had neither the military means nor the incentive to bother with the Doctor's silly little attempts at world domination but now that he was interested, this seemed almost like a personal invitation. On top of that, his sensors were picking up an energy signal unlike anything Metal Sonic was familiar with radiating away from the centre of the ship.

The robotic hedgehog checked the signal again to be sure, but from what he could see, the radiating energy had dimensional properties. Knowing a little about the science behind inter-dimensional travel from a few encounters with Void and people from Maginaryworld, Metal Sonic summed up that somehow Eggman had gotten his hands on a piece of technology with the same properties. How this may link in to the vents on Earth Metal Sonic was uncertain, but still it merited investigation.

Briefly he glanced around his lair, seeing the half working equipment that he had surrounded himself for six months with. He was never going to get his Federation back off the ground at this rate, even with a Chaos Emerald to speed the process up.

Shaking his head he turned, lashed out with a hand and tore the emerald out of the energy chamber. Almost instantly the lights and monitors around him went dead, but the chamber was not completely consumed by darkness. The red light from the emerald kept the robotic hedgehog's face highlighted. Slowly, he slid the emerald into the hole to the energy core in his chest plate. With a soft click it was held firmly in place, two clamps seizing it on either side. The energy within coursed through his body feeling his systems with renewed strength.

His eyes glowed blood red as he flexed his arms.

His own sensor systems and radar functioning as peek performance, Metal Sonic could sense the Egg Carrier 4 moving into the position it required for the sling shot, bringing the ship very close to the outer surface of the ARK. _"Well then Eggman; let's see what you have to say for yourself."_ He began, turning towards the exit; his long blood red cape flowing out behind him.

* * *

- 

_"Er…Doctor."_ Eggman looked up, irritated at being interrupted form his studies. This ring he had been handed to by his grandfather was a marvel. Made from pure energy its potential for just about anything was unlimited. And Shadow really thought he could take this way from the good Doctor?

"What is it Decoe I'm busy here?" He asked irritably pushing his goggles up off his spectacles to come face to face with a footage from one of the many security camera scattered throughout the ship. A black and red hedgehog was walking down the corridor towards the camera.

"Chaos Spear!" Yellow bolts of energy coursed through the air smashing into the security camera and suddenly the feed was lost. Eggman grimaced, an extremely worried expression on his face. It was one thing to have Sonic mad at you, another completely when you made Shadow angry.

_"Your orders Doctor?"_ Decoe asked.

"Intruder alert, condition red! Activate all security bots, seek and destroy!" he almost yelled into the com-device, his echoing voice making several microchips within Becoe's head dislodge themselves. Throughout the entire ship, large Juggernaut's began activated one by one; their recharge bay's lighting up before the robots marched out. Gigantic behemoths of metal over ten foot tall, their armour coating so strong not even a direct missile hit would phase them. "E1000: Theta, Egg Robo: find the intruder. Do not let him reach the lab!" The screen buzzed momentarily showing two of his Elite robots. They saluted Eggman before their image disappeared.

Shadow soured through the metal corridors that lined the ship like a multitude of spiders webs, several time a security lock down door tried to stop him it was sent flying off its hinges with a well aimed Chaos Spear. Rounding corner he came to the beginning of a long corridor and from here he could see about teen sheets of metal lowering themselves from the ceiling in an effort to stop him.

"Chaos…" He began crossing in an 'X' his arms in front of himself. "CONTROL!" This was a different kind o technique to the teleportation he so often used. Time began to change around him, slowing down to a near stop. To an outside observer Shadow looked like he as travelling so fast it defied explanation but in truth the black and red hedgehog was only moving as fast as he usually did. He flew under the doors before any of them had a change to slam down.

"Now Shadow, there's no need for this barbarism." A voice told him. Looking up, Shadow saw Eggman's face on a transmission screen on the wall. Sweat was running down the sides of the doctors' face, his expression wrinkled into one of intense worry and fear. "I'm sure we can come to some arrangement. So let's all calm down, take a deep breath and stop being angry." Eggman's voice was worried. He had a right to be concerned. He was well aware of what damage Shadow could cause once he got going.

"You haven't seen angry yet." The black and red hedgehog stated, raising his hand into the air. "Chaos Spear!" The energy bolt tore through the screen ripped into the centre and burning the insides.

Eggman gulped loudly as his end of the transmission buzzed with static before it went blank. Apparently diplomacy was not one of Shadow's many talents.

"Should have know you'd come with a price." The doctor muttered, glancing back over his shoulder to the Giant golden ring that he had contained inside a towering pillar of glass. It's soft golden glow illuminating the lab. If only they could get to the Egg Moon in time. Once in the safety of his fortress Shadow would never be able to get to the Doctor. They could attempt a jump using the new drive they adapted from the Blue Typhoon but with such a limited range they would never be able to make it in time. Wait a moment. This ring was a multi-dimensional gateway; the one using it could travel through space at will providing they knew how to use it. Could it travel through time as well? "Genius strikes once again!" Eggman grinned, inspiration suddenly flooding into his mind. Grabbing a selection of cables from the floor he ran as fast as his less than perfect physique could allow to the ring's protective chamber. "Decoe, Becoe; prepare the ship for a jump." He announced, plugging the cables in one by one to the bottom of the machine.

_"We haven't reached launching point yet doctor."_ The silver robot told him, his metal face appearing in a holographic display nearby. _"We're sitting using the ARK's gravity pull to pull us into position."_

"Then set the jump drive up as soon we are." Eggman snapped.

_"__Doctor, we'll never make it to the Egg-moon in one jump."_ Decoe added, his golden face appearing next to Becoe's.

"Once I'm done down here we could reach the other side of the universe with one jump." Eggman told them with a wide grin, eyes squinting evilly at them before he got on with his work.

Outside the Egg Carrier 4, the airless vacuum of space had been barred from the outside by every entry into the ship being shut of. Exhaust vents had been slammed tight shut, entry ports sealed up and every window closed off with a magnetic field. Since Metal Sonic did not need air to keep functioning he was able to come in for a close landed on the runways at the front of the ship. Once he did alarm sensors went off, detecting his presence. Two large laser turrets rose up from the ground on either side; their barrels already rotated themselves around to point directly at them.

Metal Sonic didn't even cast either of them a glance, he just stood up from a crouch and started walking towards the bridge. The two turrets fired, their blasts bouncing off a thick shield of Chaos energy invisibly encircling the robotic hedgehog's body. The blasts were reflected like they were hitting a mirror, screaming back through the air and smashing into the two turrets. Each exploded in a fire storm and Metal Sonic simply walked away as if it were nothing.

The final security lock down floor went flying inwards, blown away trailing smoke and thin races of yellow bolts. Shadow simply walked in, dragging the remains of a Dreadnaught behind him, the torn armour and scorched revealing sparking cables and wires. The room behind was a ammunitions depot, row upon row of stacks of laser rifles and anti- ballistic shields adapted for use by robots stood one after the other down the right.

Three small devices that looked like security camera lowered from the ceiling, but instead of shooting film it fired a thick blast of Laser. Shadow used the piece of robot he had with him to deflect the blast before skating to the side, a thick succession of laser beams following after him. Grabbing a laser rifle as he shot past, he pulled his arm directly upwards and fired two shots upward. Each one was a perfect bull's-eye, two of the defensive turrets falling apart in mid air.

The third and final one tried to strike Shadow's path anticipating where he would be. Sliding to the side at the last second, Shadow rebounded off the side of a wall and put himself in the perfect position to fire the final shot.

As the last of the defences fell, Shadow discarded the weapon in his hands and carried on towards the shut door at the far end. A long watery arm shot out from behind him, tore past his side before a cloven hand sank directly into the metal door. It buckled before being wrenched free. Shadow cast a glance back over his shoulder towards Chaos as the water demon retracted his arm back to his side. Tikal at his side just made a 'V' sign with her fingers. The black and red hedgehog managed a short smirk before racing on.

* * *

- 

No one knew what to do right then. Everyone on the Blue Typhoon had been declared public enemy number one. The G.U.N fleet had been stretched out across the country to find the ship as it made a desperate dash for the safety of international waters. According to monitored communications chatter the military ships had orders to shoot the Typhoon down on sight.

"Well this is a fine mess you've gotten us into" Hare commented angrily jabbing a finger at Okida.

"Me?" The major began with a stunned expression. "How the hell is this my fault?"

"You're the one who insisted we go after those cats." The rabbit like mobian persisted. "You're the one with the sense of duty. Well happy now! We've lost Sonic, we're hunted like dogs and I can kiss any chance of a quiet life goodbye!"

"Enough arguing." Chuck stated stepping in between them before the bat and rabbit went for each others throats. "This gets us nothing. Meanwhile we've got a dozen G.U.N ships barely two miles away looking for us and Tails' camouflage isn't going to last forever."

A tapping on the glass caught everyone's attention. Amy glanced up to see Knuckles tapping on the glass shield over the bridge with Rouge standing beside him, s thin smile spread over her face. "Or at all." Chuck added in a sigh. Topaz pressed a button and a door outside opened up and the two mobians made their way inside.

"I take it your in the middle of a crisis?" Knuckles asked as he glide down to the floor with Rouge close behind.

"Alright, what happened this time?" Another voice asked almost a moment afterwards as a bright flash of light emerged in the air near the pilots seat, a porthole window through which a small creature emerged, his arms folded in front of himself. His short cape flapping from around his shoulders as the dimensional window behind him closed. No one spoke; they all just stared at him. Void looked irritated beyond belief. "Look I'm a busy man so spit it out." He added angrily tapping his foot several times as an impatient expression passed over his face. "Where's Sonic? I can't leave this dimension alone for two minutes without something going wrong."

"Let's what I'd like to know." Knuckles added in. The Echidna looked directly at Amy. "So, where is he?" The pink hedgehog was silent, then she looked away.

"I don't know." She said with an emotionless voice.

Chris was quick to fill both Void, Knuckles and Rouge in on events. About the felines, the battle at the base and the Dragon that attacked their ship. When the word, Dragon, was muttered, Knuckles' interest peeked.

"Dragon?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No other word for the thing." Sam speed announced. "Winged lizard the size of a coach. It disappeared when the base went bye bye though."

Void hovered back and forth across the navigation equipment looking thoughtful, his cape flowing out behind him as he flew. They had only ever seen him walk on rare occasions. Those in Maginaryworld who could fly did so to extremes it appeared.

"A bright flash of light like a Chaos Control?" He repeated. Amy and Chris just nodded at him. Void grumbled something under his breath and continued floating, the fingers on his left hand held to chin. "That sounds like a dimensional warp." He admitted before staring off into space. "And it does explain the 9.0 on the dimensional rector scale we picked up." Since the people of Maginaryworld could travel other dimensional realms at near will, they had taken it upon themselves to maintain the fabric of reality in each universe. It was their job so to speak to make that was meant to stay in one world stayed there instead of passing back and forth through realm gates. Occasionally they let a few things slip by and this apparently was one of them. It hadn't taken long for Void to guess that the felines Amy and the others had been fighting back at the base were from another dimension and that the warp that took Area 99 away was connected to them.

"Only question I'd like answered is what Those cats are doing here." Chuck muttered; his arms folded in front of him. "I doubt they came here for Disney land."

"Crudely put but good point." Void muttered. "From what you've told me this isn't a simple case of dimensional overlap. Those felines came to your world on purpose for something."

"We can always ask the guy in the infirmary." Hare reminded them. The big feline they had dragged back from the battle field was still down there.

"Until we've got something else to work with that'll have to do I guess." Void sighed unfolding his arms. With a case this puzzling he would like more to go on than that as he was pretty sure their prisoner would tell them nothing.

"And how does that Dragon fit into all this?" Knuckles asked impatiently tapping his foot. Chris had filled him in about the strange flying reptile that attacked them after it ripped its way out of the base. Already alerted to the image of a Dragon by the Master Emerald, The Echidna knew beyond a shadow of doubt that its presence here was more than a coincidence.

"Another piece to the puzzle we've yet to find." Void replied with a toss of his head, eyes narrowed as he began thinking. Finding he could come up with nothing off the top of his head he sighed out load. "I suppose we had better talk to that feline of yours now."

* * *

- 

"Ok bub, talk!" Hare yelled through the glass. Jack just sat there with an annoyed expression on his face with his arms crossed, remaining completely silent. He had been awake when they arrived and fixed them all with a glare of ice, saying nothing.

Hare seemed to take it as a direct insult and leapt for the door, grabbing a wrench on the way. Bark and Bean threw themselves at him, pushing him away from the door and disarming him. "Damn cat!" Sensing that perhaps Hare's methods at interrogation were being influence by his instinctive nervous reaction to cats, Void hovered forward. He squinted through the glass at the prisoner, noting the features of the body and face and applying them to memory. There were several dimensions he could think off the top of his head that this feline could come from and probably more besides.

As if he were a ghost he floated in through the glass, passing through the solid barrier as if it weren't even there. Jack watched the small being float near him, both eyes wide. A low growl escaped his throat, a warning not to come any closer. Void stopped a safe distance away and stared directly him. Behind Void's wide eyes were stars swirling in a universe of their own.

"I…know you…" Jack began. "Yes…I recognise the species." Why hadn't he picked this one from the others before? A short, streamlined body with an overly large head on top. Most of the differentiated on certain points, but those characteristics were species bond. "Maginaryworld." Void simply nodded, seeing no point in hiding his place of birth from this feline. Jack managed a short grin that showed his fangs. There were few people who didn't know this arrogant civilisation. "Here to gloat? Happy now? To see what your inaction has driven my people to?"

"Our inaction?" Void repeated, raising an eyebrow. "As far as I know, our two cultures have never met." Jack looked angry at the statement.

"How dare you!" He hissed, baring his fangs. "It as not so long ago that we begged you for help, we got down on our hands and knees like children and you ignored us." Void pushed, looking confused. He hovered there in silent thought for a moment before his eyes widened in realization.

"Wait, now I remember you." Void suddenly stated clicking his fingers with the stunned expression of revelation passing over his face. "You're from that copper age planet we denied an intervene request to sixty years ago."

"It's because of you that our world is dead." Jack hissed at him angrily, lunging forward with a murderous intent in his eyes. Void simply ducked under the swings, floated through the kicks and punches as if the air itself was aiding him. "If you had only given us the help when asked for it, then my daughter would still be alive!" Outside the cell those assembled cast each other nervous glances.

"The Dragon Blood was your problem." Void muttered, sinking back through to the safety of the glass. "We only intervene with problems inter-dimensional in nature. Yours was local." Jack raised both fists and slammed their full weight against the glass, cracks like spider webs running across the surface.

"As far as I'm concerned your people are as guilty as the Dragon that ate my little girl!"

"Dragon Blood?" Okida asked giving Void a sideways glance. "Just what is that?"

"Sounds like the name of a B-rated rock group." Hare added with levelled eyes.

"Dragon Blood was the name of a pestilence that infected their home world Fellena. It's a disease that first kills its victims and then mutates the bodies into a new form of life. Flying reptiles that…" Void began.

"Spit chemicals that turn into fire in the air?" Knuckles asked with a sudden worried expression." Void looked up at him.

"As a matter of fact yes." Suddenly seeing what the red Echidna was hinting at he suddenly looked worried. "Oh dear…"

"You mean that… that thing that attacked us back there…" Bark asked looking stunned. "That was Dragon Blood?"

"Well then 'Imp'." Jack began at Void from behind the glass, the breath from his nose steaming up the cracked panel. "The Dragon Blood's a threat to two dimensions now. Perhaps with some incentive then you'll help. Only it comes as too little too late for my home."

"What's this about Void?" Amy asked giving the small fairy like being a stern glare, her hammer hoisted onto her shoulder. Void's eyes darted from they pain inflicting end of her weapon to Jack and back again before he signed out load.

"They requested help from Maginaryworld to combat the spread of the plague, but our kind only deal with catastrophes across dimensions. This was local." He explained without taking his eyes off the floor. Jack hissed angry barring every-one of his razor sharp teeth.

"So you abandoned them?" Void put his hands up defensively at the pink hedgehog's angry statement.

"Hey it wasn't my term as overseer and besides Illumina as ruling unchallenged then . We all had other things on our minds."

"None of _'your kind'_ ever set foot on Fellena to see what was happening." Jack stated with so much angry in his eyes it was unbearable to look at. "You turned us down on the spot and refused to even save our children. Dragon Blood has destroyed Fellena almost completely. There's hardly anything left for us."

"If you can cross dimensions like Void…" Amy began. "Why didn't just leave and go to another realm?"

"We have been." Jack replied without setting eyes on her. "But we are new to the leaps. It requires great deals of energy on our part so transporting what's left of our population take something more than our own resources. We can only transport ten of our kind at a time and only a few of us have the ability in the first place."

"Was that why you were here?" Okida asked. "You were looking for sources of power?" Jack shook his head.

"No." He stated giving the bat a glare. "We came here to retrieve a source of power that the Apes stole from us."

"And what was that?" The large feline did not reply, he simply crossed his arms in front of his chest and turned away.

"I will answer no more." He looked back once last time. "Not that it really matters what I say. The Dragon Blood will reduce your world, and mine, to ashes."

* * *

- 

Sonic groaned loudly before rolling up to a sitting position, his eyes screwed up tight as he hissed in pain. Perhaps attacking Blaze right then hadn't been the smartest thing he could have done. He felt like the time he foolishly accepted Hare's bet that he couldn't drink an entire tank of pickle juice; sore from the toes to the ends of his quills. Feeling leaves brush around him he opened his eyes and glanced around.

To his surprise he found himself in a very different landscape to the one he remembered leaving. It was a jungle of some kind, tall trees lancing up out of the ground all around him before blocking out the sky with a blanketing canopy. Bushes, shrubs and creepers plants ran across the ground beneath and around him. Thin shafts of light fell through the cracks in the carpet of leaves above, casting illumination through the darkness of the undergrowth around him. Strangely the planets weren't green but rather a pale shade of aqua. Even the grass beneath his feet looked like the colour of swallow water.

Standing up he took note of his surroundings. The trees didn't seem to end no matter what direction he looked in. He paused to brush some twigs and leaves out of his quills before walking off. His first impulse had been to run but that would risk him getting even more lost than he was before and even he was smarter than that.

"Hello…" He began to himself, nearly tripping over a piece of metal half hidden by a bush. Brushing the leaves aside he saw it was the shattered remains of a G.U.N Laser Hunter Robot, the front craved in by a sword blade. Wait…he remembered seeing this piece of scrap before. It had been lying outside Area 99 with a loud of others Blaze had carved it up on her way to the entire of the base. How did it get here? The same way he did maybe?

Sonic carried on, finding that the further he walked the more he found bits and pieces from the fight at the base scattered around. Small fragments of laser hunters, hunks of stone wall that could only have come from Area 99 itself, the smouldering remains of a fighter plane and even a collapsed Mech blocking his path; the fragments of the battle were everywhere. "Ok, this is getting strange." The hedgehog muttered to himself as he scratched the back of his head.

Just what was going on here? How had all of this gotten from outside the base to this strange jungle? His mind cast itself back to the moment his spin attack had slammed itself into Blaze. He shuddered, finding a wall blocking his memory. All he recalled was an extremely brief flash of intense light and then nothing.

Had there been a Chaos Control?

A loud roar shook the air and Sonic glanced up to see a long shadow fall across the canopy. Acting on instinct he ran after it, darting through the trees at great speed with one eye kept watching the movement above. Suddenly the ground just seemed to end before him and he put on the brakes, screeching to a halt at the edge of a very long drop.

To his utter amazement he found himself on the edge of a floating island, not unlike Angel Island in similarity but much bigger. The land arched around in a bay to his right before disappearing into the distance. The true surface was far below, thick clouds passing below the flying continent half hiding the lava ridden land from view. But what caught Sonic's attention at once was the sky. It was a pale orange completely and the sun in the sky was gigantic and completely blood red.

The roar echoed out again and Sonic watched as a huge winged reptile soared over him, its wings beating several times as it roar. Like a snake it twisted through the air, before reaching the height of its flight and falling into a dive towards the land below. Sonic watched it glide off, his eyes wide in amazement.

"I don't think I'm in Kansas anymore." The blue hedgehog muttered to himself as he stared out across the strange new world.

* * *

- 

Note:

Those of you wondering if I intend to carry on after the movie adaptationlook forthe lastest updateof my Deviantart page, link on user page. Future updates as well will reveal all…


	6. To a New World

This new place was perhaps the weirdest place Sonic had ever found himself, and he had been to some pretty damn weird places in his time. It not take him long to realize that he was on a floating landmass, an island twice the size as Angel Island and covered in a thick forest, the trees and other plant life a pale aqua instead of the usual green.

The land far below the flying island was barren and riddled completely with lava flows. Even from this height he could see the glow from the thick streams of molten rock. There seemed to be nothing down there but an ash filled wasteland, as least from what he could see through the occasional breaks in the clouds.

Glancing up again he took note of the sky, its colour bright orange. The sun above was huge; three times that of the one he was used to seeing and blood red. Sonic had read something somewhere that stars turn blood red before they die, or explode; or implode. Whichever, Sonic did not want to be around when it did.

Clearly he was no longer on Earth.

"Ok, what now?" He asked out load folding his arms in front of himself. Some vague hope of something answering vanished in an instant and sighing he turned away from the edge and walked back into the forest. The Dragon or whatever it was that had flown overhead had vanished, flying back down to the charred land below. He was not foolish enough to try and go after it so decided instead to see what he could find on this island. Something had to be keeping it up in the air, some version of the Master Emerald perhaps. Perhaps he could use it to get back from, where he was.

Racing through the trees and shrubs, he found more and more debris from the battle at Area 99 scattered here and there. Trees had been broken and ground torn up around them, showing they had just been dropped here and recently. Sonic realized that the light that brought him here must have been an unstable Chaos Control warp, picking up whatever it could consume and transporting it to this place; including himself.

Suddenly, he found the trees ending abruptly as he surged out onto a cobble stone road. Screeching to a sudden halt he glanced around. It was road alright and he could see foot prints in the mud along one side, leading to his left. Looking up that direction, he squinting at the distance but whatever lay at the end of this road was too far away to see properly. The tall trees bloated out all but the sky from view.

Guessing his best bet at finding something useful lay in that direction, he took off. The road lead on for quiet a distance stretching it seemed around the outside of the flying island until it arched around a corner back along the centre. Even at his usual running speed, it took a good ten minutes until finally the road ended. Sonic slammed on the breaks as he found himself gazing up at a sheer wall of glass before him. A curved bomb lanced up out of the ground before him, carrying on up further and further into the sky before curving up at the top a good few hundred feet above. The think had to be covering a good seven acres of ground. Sonic gave an impressed whistle and put his hands on his hips. Glancing through the hedgehog saw that the trees, ground and road continued, just a few inches beyond the glass.

"Has to be door here somewhere..." He muttered to himself casting his gaze over the glass to look for someway of opening it. There had to be an opening of some kind or why would the road keep going past here? Finding nothing he growled and took a few paces backward. "Well, I hope they don't mind if I just myself in then." Sonic added with a grin, before he started spinning on the spot; his entire body curving into a ball. His momentum increased to a pitch before he rocketed forward and smashed his attack into the glass.

It was like slamming at break neck speed into a brick wall.

A shockwave that shook every bone in the hedgehog's body bounced several times back and forth through him before he was repelled away from the glass and slammed ungracefully into the side of a tree.

"Ok, scratch that idea then." He growled sliding down until he landed on his backside with a loud thud. Whatever that stuff was it wasn't any normal glass. Picking himself up him trudged back to the dome's surface. Not even a dent. "Damned double glazing." He muttered, taping the surface with his finger and then proceed to give it a kick. The result was the same; the force he exerted was reflected right back to him and all he had to show for his effort was acute muscle pain.

"You hear that?" A voice from beyond asked, the sound dulled by the glass in the way.

"Hear what?" A second asked in reply. Acting on instinct Sonic hurled himself into a bush to take over. There was movement from inside the dome, leaves parting way and two felines stepped forth. Sonic watched them through gaps in the leaves as they neared the inside surface of the dome. By the leather and forged metal armour they wore, the blue hedgehog could tell they were a part of that same group that he had fought at Area 99. "I don't see anything." The larger of the two added peering out placing a flat hand above his eyes and balancing himself on the end of a silver tipped spear.

"No dragon at least." The smaller replied. "But best to be safe than sorry." He reached over and tapped something just out of sight and Sonic watched as an invisible door opened, parting vertically down the middle before spreading out either side.

The larger walked out first, his spear held in both hands. His large pointed ears twitched this way and that, listening for anything out of the ordinary chirping of birds echoed out from the jungle.

"Nothing." He stated eventually, before turning back. Suddenly someone tapped him on the shoulder. Looking back he saw Sonic standing there, his long blue quills trailing out behind him.

"Don't suppose either of you'd be interested in helping a hedgehog out?" The feline swung his spear back and nearly impaled Sonic on the tip had the blue hedgehog not dodged around it. "I guess not."

The smaller feline drew a dagger from a pocket on his armour and leapt at Sonic; two simply sidestepped and as the feline shot past the hedgehog dealt him a blow to the back of the head. He stumbled forward before crashing to the ground knocked unconscious. The larger took his spear in both hands and made a succession of several very good jabs at Sonic trying to strike him. Dodging around each attempt, Sonic found it easy to get it close and smash an upper cut across the feline's chin.

The cat-like being staggered backwards with blood running from his nose down his face, his spear spiralling from his hands; sinking into the ground nearby.

"Now come on, I'm not here to pick a fight. All I want is a little help." Sonic stated gesturing out with open palms. The large feline snarled and charged with claws outstretched. The blue hedgehog simply side stepped at the last second and the feline flew past him and into a tree. "Look this is getting real old real fast." The hedgehog added as the cat picked himself back up, shaking the dirt and fallen leaves from his fur. "Can't we just call it quits?"

"You don't belong here." The cat snarled barring his fangs.

"You can say that again." The blue hedgehog replied with a short smile. The feline charged and Sonic swung his leg around, knocking the felines' feet out from under him. As he fell, Sonic shot back up and slammed a punch into his stomach. Forced to the ground faster, the cat hit his head against the hard floor and was knocked unconscious. "Sorry 'bout that." Sonic told the two of them, pulling the two felines over against the side of the dome and propping them against it, checking them both over briefly to see if he'd caused them any unnecessary damage. Reaching over, Sonic plucked the spear out of the ground and gently rolled it in their direction "You guys must not be used to company." With that he raced off in through the open door.

Now inside the dome, Sonic carried on running, keeping his speed up just in case there were anymore of those felines around. Eventually however he was forced to slam on the breaks. Skidding to a halt the blue hedgehog found himself staring up at a large gate. A towering stone wall ran through the jungle cutting off what lay beyond from view, leaving the massive metallic door in front of him as the only means of entry.

"Knock Knock." The blue hedgehog muttered, tensing his legs and leaping at the wall. His sneakers took grip and using the momentum in his body shot vertically up the wall towards the top. Upon reaching it he somersaulted up, did a graceful flip before standing directly on the edge. "Whoa…" He breathed staring out at what lay beyond. The jungle ended here as the wall encircled a city, but a city unlike any he had ever seen. "Spiffy." Sonic added with a smile gazing out across it. It was completely circular, the streets designed so they all ultimate arrived at the centre point were a tower lanced up from the ground towards the top of the glass dome above.

From here, he could see the streets were filled with felines; hundreds of them at first glance. Many of them were the larger warriors he'd fought with but a good deal of their number was small children. The buildings were all wedge shaped, their tapering points directed towards the middle. Apart from the odd shape, it was not all that different from other cities he'd seen. There were still roads, pavements and even a park at the far left of the central tower.

The tower itself was so tall Sonic had to crane his neck to look up at it. He was amazed he hadn't been able to see until now. It was made from what looked like sand stone from this distance and completely smooth all the way around even as it fattened out at the bottom. At the top it branched out into a tree leafed clover shaped platform; the middle of this being directly beneath the top of the glass dome.

Sliding down the side of the wall Sonic came to a stop at the ground on the other side, dropping down onto his feet with acrobatic skill. He doubted he was going to get much help from the locals but anything was worth a try at least once. As soon as he was within sight however of one of the child felines, it stared at him before crying out load. The yell attracted many eyes and they all locked onto the blue hedgehog, and soon every feline with line of sight was looking directly at him.

"Well this is awkward." Sonic stated with a goofy smile as several large felines began to approach him.

* * *

- 

Falling Star Independent was a large media corporation with branches in newspapers, Media TV stations and radio. After Hexagon started seizing financial control of just about everything, Falling Star became the number one news broadcaster in the States, backed completely by the company what funded their rise up the corporate ladder. As such, Espio was not particularly surprised to find that the newspaper censor they needed to investigate _was _Falling Star.

"You really think they're going to tell us anything?" The chameleon asked giving Vector a sharp glare as they made their way towards the large revolving doors of the lobby entrance. "It's not as if we can walk right up to front desk and ask; "Hey, you guys been keeping secrets about flying dragons?" Vector did not dignify that with a reply. The Falling Star building was a sky scrapper that stretched up above and beyond the rooftops to the clouds. Every wall seemed to a sea of silver windows that tapered off at the top.

"I don't believe this…" The crocodile hissed angrily as he walked up to the door to come face to face with a sign placed upon the inside, visible through the glass. Upon it were the words; (Mobians or residents of the former Planet Mobius are not allowed beyond this point.) Espio smacked a fist into his palm turning away in disgust. They had all see the Presidents broadcast about half a day ago and about five minutes after the streets outside their apartment had broken out in riots, human and Mobian alike crashing against a mass of Swat police called out to deal with the problem.

"Alright you read the sign; get moving." A security guard with a short grey beard and shaggy eyebrows outside the glass door shouted at them, gesturing with his baton for them to get lost.

"Hey we have rights to ya know." Vector snapped at him, barring every one of his sharp teeth,

"Look bud I'm just following orders." The guard replied with a flat tone. "Come on, move it alone." Vector tried several times after that to gain entry to the building, and each time the guards turned him away. On the fourth and final time they called out a Laser Hunter Robot that tossed the crocodile violently out of the front door and sent him rolling across the street to come to a stop at Espio's feet.

"Something tells me we won't be getting in that way." The chameleon stated folding his arms in front of himself. Vector pushed himself back up, his scales dirtied by the oil from the robot's fingers and brick dust from the street.

"Alright that dose it." He snarled going through the motions of rolling up none existent sleeves.

"Before you humiliate yourself again." Espio quickly added stepping into the crocodile's path. "Take a deep breath and count to ten."

"No way." Vector replied brushing him aside with one hand. "This is a matter of pride, of honour."

"Half the time you can't even spell those words!" The chameleon grabbed Vector's tail and dug his heals down trying to put the breaks on the crocodiles advanced back towards the doors. "Look we're here to gather intelligence, not get into a fight with the security guards." Vector looked back over his shoulder with a disappointed look on his face.

"Can't we do both?"

"No." Was Espio's stern reply.

"Awww." Vector's tail suddenly went slack and Espio nearly tripped over. "Oh alright then." The crocodile sat himself down on the stone steps leading up to the front entrance. "You got any other idea's to get inside?" The chameleon just grinned and balanced a single shuriken on the end of his finger. "Ah right, the ninja thing."

"But I'll need a distraction." Espio stated flipping the throwing star between his fingers like a coin. "Something to draw their attention for a moment." Vector grinned evilly and ground his knuckles into the palm of his other hand.

"Alright, looks like I'll get to bash some heads after all." Espio quickly put a hand on his shoulder to silence any thoughts of impending violence.

"No. I'm going to need guidance from the outside once I'm in and you can't be doing that and wrestling with security at the same time." Vector clicked his fingers and looked away folding his arms as if pouting. Suddenly a familiar buzzing sound eared their ears and looking up they saw Charmee flying towards them.

"Hey guys." He called down as he descended. "How's it going?"

"I thought you were supposed to be helping Rei and Beck?" Vector asked. Charmee folded his arms behind his back as he hovered in the air,

"Oh but that was boring. They went around simply asking people about that dragon-Henry-person. Nobody wanted to talk to us." His expression was that of utter boredom, before it vanished with a thick clueless smile. "So can I hang around with you? Pretty please?"

The two reptiles shot each other a glance, before a loopy grin spread simultaneously over their lips.

"Sure Charmee, you can hang around." Vector remarked, his smile showing everyone of his sharp teeth. "But you mind doing us a little favour first?" Charmee's head tilted to the side as a puzzled expression passed his face.

The security guard next to the front desk looked up as the large glass doors opened in but nothing seemed there to open it, as if the thing had swung in on it's own. Suddenly a loud buzzing caught his attention and he glanced around expecting to see an insect. He did, and his stole his hat.

"Hey!" The guard exclaimed as Charmee put it on the top of his own head. The hat was twice his size and fell over his eyes. "Give that back!" The young bee simply stuck his tongue out.

"You'll have ta catch me first!" He laughed, hovering just out of reach as the man made several lunches at the bee, who proceeded to fly through the lobby stealing pencils and pens and slapping anyone close enough on the back of the head. Causing such a commotion, all eyes were taken off the entrance; leaving Espio a clear shot across the lobby to the stairs leading up into the main buildings.

Becoming visible behind a potted planet, the chameleon quickly fitted the communication device into his ear behind his horned frill.

"You read me Vector?" He asked as a small mechanical arm no bigger than a pencil descended over his lips, a microphone on the end.

"Yeah, lines ok." The crocodile was relaying the signal from an alleyway about a block away. Being too large to sneak through into the building, Vector had set himself up outside with a communications device so he could stay in contact with him. "There could be several places the info we need is; so we'll start with the editing section. Anything they cut out, it's probably gonna be there."

"Roger." Espio replied before his outline shimmered like rising heat and his body became translucent.

* * *

- 

Void had been completely silent for a good while now. He stood on the front tip of the Blue Typhoon, one arm placed onto his stomach and the other held out in front of himself; the palm pointed towards the horizon. His eyes were closed and he emitted a soft constant hum. The sun was beginning to set now, his long shadow cast back over the runway behind him.

Sighing, he opened his eyes and lowered his arm.

"I thought as much." He muttered; floating up on whatever force gave him the power to levitate before turning back towards those waiting for him. Amy had been standing there waiting for him to finish for ages and Bean was slumped against the side of the ship with an extremely bored expression on his face. Seeing movement, the duck pushed himself back to his feet.

"Did you find out where Sonic went?" The pink hedgehog asked looking up hopefully. Void nodded once.

"Oh yes I know where he is now." He replied floating past her. "I could sense the warp and its exit point from here. Whoever tried to activate the dimensional rip was trying to reach the Felines home world of Fellena."

"Then what took so long?" Bean asked raising an eyebrow. Void stopped and looked back at him.

"I had to be certain that the warp itself had not destroyed those travelling within it." A sudden panic stricken looked passed over Amy's face. Void raised both his cloven hands quickly. "Don't worry, it hasn't. Sonic is alive and well and if my senses are right, he's on Fellena." Amy let herself breath out a sigh of relief.

"So what now?" The dynamite duck asked again.

"I go and get him of course." Void replied folding his arms and turning back fully to face them. "Only problem is I might need to stay there a while."

"What? Why?" Amy asked suddenly looked a little alarmed.

"There's clearly been a breech of dimensional autonomy." The imp like creature replied. "It's my job to clear up messes like that. I've got to get to the bottom of this and I'm willing to bet I'll get some answers on Fellena."

"Well then I'm coming too." Amy stated. "I'm not going to leave Sonic stranded on some planet in another dimension." She smiled suddenly coyly. "Not without me at least."

"That world is horrible infected with Dragon Blood." Void warned her. "It'll be dange…" He paused, seeing the stern look spread across her face. Realizing it was utter pointless to argue he just sighed. "Oh alright." He added throwing his arms up into the air. "But before anyone else gets any ideas, I am NOT going to be taking everyone on this ship. Oh no. Only four can come along."

"Then make room for us." Knuckles stated sliding down from the top of the glass that covered the bridge, Rouge gliding after him.

"This is one adventure I'd pay to come along on." The she-bat stated, gently landing next to Amy.

"And one I can't afford to miss." Knuckles added but with none of the anticipation in his voice Rouge had had.

"And I hope you don't mind I tag along as well." There was a soft shunting nose and a trap door leading into the ship opened up into the air and Okida climbed out, spreading his large wings as he exited. He had his holsters strapped on either side of his waist and a one handed shot guns loaded into each one. "Sorry Bean, you're going to have to sit this one out."

"Fine." The green feathered duck replied with a certain amount of relief in his voice. "Can't say travelling to a dimension full of fire breathing dragons that mutate from dead bodies is my idea of fun. I'll just let everyone else know where you're all gone."

"Yeah you do that." Void replied, raising a single finger. There was a brief moment of silence and then the tip of his finger started glowing. Slowly he pushed it into the air as if was prodding something and then he began to draw a wide circle before him. As if his finger was cutting space itself, the circle manifested in a link of bright white light. As soon as the circle was complete, the space in the centre seemed to cave in and form a long tunnel that spiralled in.

"Sure this is safe?" Rouge asked giving the porthole a sceptical glance.

"My dear, I've been using these to travel to and fro from dimensions for the last couple of hundred of your years." Void replied, gesturing with his right hand and suddenly the general size of the hole expanded, the width now well over two meters wide. "By now I know what I'm doing." Suddenly he clicked his fingers. "Oh that's right. We need that big Feline down in the cell."

"Why?" Knuckles asked looking a little puzzled.

"Well for one thing, he doesn't belong in this dimension." Void replied turning back. "And secondly, I might need him a bargaining chip to pry any information about the situation from the Felines. As you can guess, they don't like people from Maginaryworld pretty much."

"One can hardly blame them." The red echidna added with a flat look.

"Bean, go tell our prisoner he's on parole." Okida told the green duck. "Then bring him up here." The duck looked petrified. Jack was strong enough to break him in two with those muscles.

"Hey you don't pay me enough to risk my life with Mr. 'Hannibal Feline'." Bean remarked folding his wings. "Heck you don't even pay me at all."

"Just go will you?" Okida told him, jabbing a finger off in the direction of the bridge. Bean shot him a glare, before groaning and heading off grumbling to himself. After about a five minute wait he turned with Bark and Hare helping him escort Jack up onto the deck. The feline had large hand braces pinning his muscular arms together, and Hare had a laser rifle aimed at his head. Not one of them trusted his feline an inch. Jack's multi coloured eyes locked onto Void with an iron grip stare. Void himself simply smiled and floated to the side revealing the open porthole behind him.

"We're heading to Fellena so, unless you want to stay in this world, you'll be coming with us." He announced. Jack looked around trying to read the faces around him for any hidden motives.

"What's the catch?" He asked giving Void a suspicious glare.

"No catch." Void assured him gesturing out with his hands. "You don't belong in this word anyway. We're simply taking care of business there so we might as well give you a lift. But could you do us a favour and tell your superiors how we helped you out?" Jack's face remained unreadable, his expression forced into a frown; but it was always like that so no one had any idea what he was thinking. Unexpectedly a smile made past its way past his lips. He suddenly wrenched his arms to the side, tearing the hand brace as if it were made of tissue paper. Everyone tensed themselves expecting him to throw himself at one of them. Instead he simply straightened his back and stood upright.

"Very well then." He stated. Hare just glanced down at the broken metal remains at his feet, then to Jack, and then back again. "Just so it's perfectly clear..." The large feline added barring all of his teeth at the rabbit like mobian. "I could have done that any time I felt like." Brushing past those in front of them, the feline simply walked to the porthole and without a moments hesitation and vanished into the depths with Void close behind him.

The four of them stared after them, watching the swirling light they had just disappeared into.

"You people coming or not?" Void's voice called back.

"Right then." Knuckles sighed, before stepping forward. He paused at the edge of the hole, contorted his face before leaping in and like Void, vanishing a small surge of a white glow. Amy was next, determined not to be shown up by the Echidna, plunging into the porthole with a single jump.

Now only Rouge and Okida were left outside the gate. The two bats cast each other a glance, before walking both at the same time in through it; vanishing at the same moment. Once they had gone, the porthole contracted and shrunk; growing smaller and smaller until finally it disappeared with a soft and almost wet, popping noise.

* * *

- 

The Egg Carrier 4 had now reached its escape position, the ARK's gravity well pushing the ship up and away from the planet. Now all the systems were waiting for was the push from the jump drive system, which Doctor Eggman was tinkering around with at a fantastic speed. Multitudes of wires and cables now lanced from the computer outlet in the wall to the large glass container housing the giant golden ring. Eggman didn't need the reports flashing up on the lab's main screen to know that Shadow was getting nearer and nearer. He could feel the metal floor beneath his feet shudder as one by one, the security lock down doors went flying off their melted hinges. Time was running out.

"There!" He proclaimed in triumph, connecting the last cable into place. The machines around him hummed in response, the only indication that anything had happened. Darting over to the terminal, Eggman's hands moved so fast over the keyboard they appeared to be a blur. Programs opened and closed in such rapid succession they were impossible to see. "Ok boys, hang onto your mother boards." The doctor added, glancing up at the screen to see the worried faces of Decoe and Becoe in the upper left hand corner.

_"Oh I'm not going to like this."_ Becoe puttered putting his metal hands in front of his eyes as Eggman's finger neared the button marked- 'ignition'. Before he could press it, the door leading into the lab burst inward in a spray of molten metal, bellowing clouds of smoke spilling out into the lab.

"Metal Knuckles, defensive pattern…" Eggman called up, but was silenced by a loud thud. Looking down, he saw the charred remains of the robotic echidna lying at his feet, the head torn clean off. Amongst his remains were the burnt out shells of both E1004 Theta and Egg Robo, their bodies ripped open and then incinerated. Glancing up, Eggman watched as a dark shape began emerging from the smoke; but it wasn't Shadow.

_"Hello."_ A voice stated as a pair of half eclipsed circle red eyes glared down at the doctor. Before Eggman could even cry out a hand with metal claws for fingers lashed out and grabbed him by the jacket and hoisted him, despite his weight, into the air. _"Now then, if you'd be so kind as to answer a couple of questions I can be on my way."_ Metal Sonic's claws tightened around the fat throat threatening to cut off the air supply.

"Metal Sonic!" Looking back, Metal Sonic watched as Shadow slid to a stop just within the door frame; hands held at either side; the golden embers of a Chaos Spear attack burning between his fingers. A moment later, Tikal and Chaos arrived at his side.

_"Ah, I thought one of Sonic's flunkies would be involved in this somehow."_ The robotic hedgehog stated and the next instant, his metal claws opened and Eggman dropped to the floor with a loud thud. Metal Sonic shot back around, his red cape following out behind him. _"I don't suppose you're simply going to tell me what's going on?"_

Shadow did not reply; he kept his iron unblinking gaze locked on the robotic hedgehog. He had not forgotten what Metal Sonic had attempted less than a year ago and had little reason to start trusting him. Eggman saw his chance in this moment if conversation and leapt for the controls, slamming entire hand down on the console so hard he broke the keyboard. The machines around them all blurred to life, surging power channelled from the golden ring and directly into the Egg Carrier 4 itself.

Metal Sonic responded with a lightning fast kick, slamming Eggman away from the controls with one swift motion but he was too late, the sequence had already started. The golden ring's glow increased ten fold and the engines at the back of the Carrier were beginning to emit a strange blue light. _"And just what is this supposed to be?"_ The robotic hedgehog asked glaring up at the ring as more and more of its dimensional energy was channelled into the Egg Carrier's jump drive. _"Well it does not matter. Whatever this is, I'll be making sure you never use it Eggman."_

Slowly Metal Sonic raised a hand towards it and a spark of energy began travelling down his arm to form an attack.

"No stop!" Tikal cried out but her cry was both too late and fell on deaf ears. Metal Sonic's energy attack shot from his fingers and struck the side of the glass container, ripping through it and ploughing straight into the golden and black surface of ring itself. Instead of breaking, the ring just seemed to absorb the blast and suddenly it grew it size a good couple of feet. Its surface swirled like oil caught in water and suddenly it started spitting, flares of golden energy spinning outwards at tremendous speed; anything caught in their path was cut as if a spinning hacksaw had slammed into it.

"What have you done!" Eggman cried out scrambled for what was left of the controls. The moment he pressed a single button, a power surge shot back through the console and burnt his hand forcing the doctor to stagger back as the plastic keys began to melt one by one. Sparks began flying from the equipment around and the large screen had just enough time to display the words 'System overload' before exploding with a spray of plastic shards. "You stupid Machine! The Ring's lost stability!" Eggman snarled as the ring began burning with golden fire, flare lancing out every moment to scar any physical object around them. By now the entire holding tank had been reduced to nothing and the giant ring was hovering there in mid air, spitting off the deadly arches of energy in which direction it pleased.

One flare came souring right at Tikal but at the last minute Chaos jumped in the way and absorbed the blast. In a spray of water he exploded, covering the Echidna behind him in his liquid body. "I can't contain the reaction!" The doctor declared, finding every piece of equipment around him completely useless. The dimensional energy from the ring was still flowing into the jump drive. There was no way the Egg Carrier's engines could handle this kind of energy flowing through them. They were gonna blow!

Metal Sonic looked back in time to see a flare coming right at him. Instantly he threw his arms out to protect himself as it soured straight at his head. Clamping his metallic hands together, he forced a force-field into the air around him and the flare struck it hard. Metal Sonic's feet dragged themselves across the ground as he found the stretch of the energy discharge surprisingly on par with his own. Eventually he was forced back so far he was nearly flat against the wall. Ducking down at the last minute he avoided the direct path of the blast as it soured one, scorching the ends of his red cape.

"See what trouble you've caused Gerald?" Shadow muttered as computer panels all around the lab and of course, all over the ship began detonating outwards one by one. The ground beneath their feet gave a sudden lurch and a loud echoing roar erupted through the entire carrier. At the back of the ship the primary engine had overloaded and the reactor shielding had been breeched. If the energy flow did not stop now it was going to go critical and explode; making an awful loud bang when it did.

Shadow shot forward, skating through the streams of golden flares as they shot outwards at rapid succession. He could feel their searing heat as he passed by, his fur standing up on end as the flares energies the air like a magnet. He had to get this thing out of the ship before it went 'kaaaboom' and there was only one way he knew to do that.

Getting with range, he reached out with his left hand and arched his palm towards the giant ring's surface. "Chaos Control!" Trying to warp the thing safely away, he found his efforts yielding hardly the results he expected. The ring instantly flared up so bright gold in response, burning so brightly it blinded the black and red hedgehog. The light was so intense that even outside the ship, beams of it were flying out through cracks the flares had carved in the ship. Suddenly the ring began to dissolve, consumed by a ball of white light growing within its centre. That ball grew in size steady devouring the ring bit by bit and it didn't stop there.

Shadow was next, draw into the light as it expanded and vanished within. Eggman tried to run but even without his physique he was pointless, he was next; gone in an instant. Tikal followed, along with Chaos as he reformed from a puddle beside her. Being further from the ring Metal Sonic had time to watched the ball steady grow; spreading itself out to consume the entire lab inch by inch. Soon it crept over his foot, up his leg.

In a single instant something occurred to him. The ring responded to a Chaos Control, then perhaps it would also respond to... With little time left, he wrenched the Red Chaos Emerald out of his chest and with it tightly in his grasp thrust it into the light. There was a sudden surge and the light flew up at an incredible rate of speed, swallowing the robotic hedgehog whole in an instant. The light turned blood red as it travelled, eating through the Egg Carrier in seconds. One the entire ship was inside its sphere, the giant ball floated there in mid air for a second; before arching inwards and once again becoming a ring. The giant golden circle hovered as if in orbit around the Earth before it began spinning on its axis and as it did, began shrinking. Smaller and smaller it got until finally it disappeared all together with a loud ringing sound that shot across the planet echoing for miles before dying away to nothing.


	7. The origin of the Blood

For miles around Fellena was a burned and scorched land, made completely barren by the thousands of Dragons that soured the skies. Most of the time these giant beasts slept on the ground below, conversing their energy as with their growing numbers food was becoming scarce; this left the skies free of fire most of the time. This was why when a ball of dazzling light suddenly erupted in thin air none were awake to see it. A surge of power rippled through the air and sent spiralling out of the light came the Egg Carrier 4.

The ship screamed towards the ground, the engine thrusters cut out and without and thrust to keep it up it was plummeting straight towards the hard ground. At the last second however, Becoe regained propulsion control and with a deafening roar the engines came back online. A pillar of blue flame shot out the main thrusters before the ship's crashing flight path began to level up, the hence-bot steering the ship into a climb moments before its tip could ram into the ground. Disturbed from their slumber by the intrusion, several large wedge shaped heads rose up on long scaly necks to stare after the ship as it began its escape back to the clouds. Having never seen a carrier before, these Dragons instantly thought that this giant was another form of food. Having been starved of sustenance for days and driven by hunger, they were prepared to attack anything on even the smallest chance of a meal.

Their wings spread and one by one they took to their air, trying to beat their rivals to the goal. As the largest got within range it reared its head back before throwing its haws forward spitting a thick glob of chemicals at the ship. These combusted with the oxygen in the air and burst into a torrent of flames that literally screamed as it flew. The blast struck the Egg Carrier along the starboard bow causing it to tip violently to the side.

Several trap doors pulled themselves aside as turrets rose up to take their place. A moment later the air was full of laser fire, riddling one of the flying beasts with severe burn marks. It screeched angrily before pulling back away to abandon the chase, smoke trailing in its flight path. The other two pressed on, determined not to let this meal escape.

Energy blasts came out of nowhere, striking the lead beast head on. The head went flying from the shoulders in a spray of blood and the Dragon tumbled down towards the ground trailing red. Metal Sonic soured through the air, the jets on his back full blazing. His long armoured arms spread out either side with talons held ready. Coming up close to the final creature, a direct strike down the side sent it reeling back in pain; red flying from a series of horizontal cuts along its neck.

Angry it reared its head back and vomited another batch of burning chemicals straight at the robotic hedgehog as he soured past.

"Chaos Spear!" A rapid series of yellow bolts ripped across the sky, dissolved the chemicals as they past and struck home directly into the centre of the beast's heart. There was a momentary silence before it exploded in a red haze.

"_I don't recall asking for you assistance." _Metal Sonic called down to the ground as pieces of dragon began raining all around. Down on the edge of a cliff below was Shadow, his hand raised with fresh smoke rising from between his fingers.

"If you hadn't been so stupid you wouldn't need it." The black hedgehog replied, turning away in a certain amount of disgust.

Glancing around, he observed the new landscape around it. Barren and scorched like the top of a volcano, blackened with thick rivers of lava coursing through the land like blood vessels. From the vantage point of the cliff overlooking a frothing aqua green sea Shadow could see it all for miles. A wasteland, not even a single tree or shrub anywhere. Far in the distance he could hear the distant cries of more dragons and he could see their winged forms on the distant horizon. The sky above was orange and the sun giant and blood red. One thing was clear at once. He was not on earth anymore.

The ring was a dimensional gateway. Gerald had used it to look across realms when Earth and Mobius were separated. When Metal Sonic attacked the ring it absorbed the energy of his blast and transmuted it into its own power source. Activating a Chaos Control warp, but releasing it without any constraints; throwing them across dimensions to wherever this was. Shadow glanced down at his left hand. Grasped tightly between his fingers was the ring. Apparently the unexpected and uncontrolled warp had diminished it. It had shrunk to the size of an ordinary ring, as if it were now one of the items Sonic used for energy pick-me-ups. The surface did not glow through like the others. Black swirled with gold inside like oil and water. Well, at least now it was out of Eggman's greedy hands.

The Egg Carrier had swung down to the ground nearby, jutting into the ground at the base of the cliff. Smoke was rising from it at various points. It would be a while before the Doctor would be getting it up into the air again.

"Can you tell where we are?" Shadow asked, looking back over his shoulder. Standing behind him like his shadow was Tikal, her guardian the loyal watery demon Chaos in a melted puddle behind her.

"Safe to say in another dimensional realm." She replied giving the strange sky a glance. "But I can not tell you which one and can't transport us away either." Being part of the Master Emerald for so long, Tikal had developed special powers because of it. She could teleport herself distances, even across certain dimensional realms. Also she could call up Chaos from the ether to protect her. But her abilities could be cancelled out by certain types of magnetic waves. Shadow could feel such an energy grid in the air. It was making his short fur stand up on end.

There was a loud thud and turning back they both saw Metal Sonic stand up out of the scorch he landed in. Since they saw him fighting Krish he had changed his overall amour design. It was much blockier around the legs and his cape was blood red instead of purple. On the back of it, printed in gold was the symbol of the Metal X Machine federation.

"_Our arrival in this place might not be…entirely…my fault." _The robotic hedgehog stated, his cape flapping out to the side.

"And how do you figure that?" Shadow asked, folding his armed with a severely annoyed expression on his face.

"_My sensors are detecting Sonic's energy signature within four miles of our location." _He replied. "_The excess chaos energy abundant within it suggests he had also recently been through a Chaos Control."_

"Sonic…here? You sure?" Tikal asked looking mutely surprised. Metal Sonic simply nodded.

"_I believe we tried to transport at the same time he did, but since our warp was unstable it latched onto his exit point. I thought Sonic was involved in this somehow."_

"So in other words, we just hitched a ride on his Chaos Control?" Shadow asked butting in.

"_More or less." _Metal Sonic replied. The black and red hedgehog forged a stark frown.

"Well that didn't doesn't chance the fact that you were the one that attacked the ring."

"_Just what were you and Eggman doing with it anyway?" _The robot shot back, his eyes glowing red in annoyance.

"That's none of your concern!"

"What I'd like to know is what Sonic's doing in a place like this?" Tikal asked cutting in before a serious argument could start, glancing around at the utterly barren landscape all around her. Strewn with ashes and volcanic activity it appeared as if the apocalypse had come and gone.

"I guess we just go ask him." Shadow announced.

* * *

---

"I don't suppose the old "I come in peace" line will cut any ice around here?" Sonic asked with a nervous smile taking a step back as the shadows of the felines around him eclipsed him from the light. One of them drew a dagger, the other un-strapped a claymore from a sheath on his back and the last readied a large axe blade. Several more around them cracked their knuckles loudly as the woman hurried their children away.

A few of the youngsters stayed to watch, excited by the prospect of battle and by the strange blue creature they had never seen before. "Nope, never does." The blue hedgehog remarked to himself, his ears dropping at each side. One of the felines lunged at him with the axe, swinging the blade down in arch at Sonic; who dodged the swing with ease. Another made a jab with the dagger and this Sonic easily avoided, swinging around their attacks as if they were moving in slow motion. "Come on, how many of you guys do I have to beat the living crap out of before you get the idea?" He asked, folding his arms and tapping his foot.

The last with the sword looked like he was going to strike, hoisting his sword up into the air; but as he did so he stopped; his face suddenly adopting a stunned expression. Sonic watched him carefully for a moment. To the hedgehog's surprise, the large cat simply dropped to one knee bowing to something. All the others around him did the same, even those who had just attacked him. Sonic looked confused. This was just getting stranger by the second.

"Well this is certainly an unpleasant surprise." Shooting around at the sound of a voice Sonic instinctively went into a fighting stance. Standing there behind him was the feline had had tried to stop at the heart of Area 99, the one attempting to steal that yellow crystal. Clearly a female, she was almost completely surprise with darkened pieces of fur at the end of her pony tail and at the end of her long tail. She had changed from her leather and metal armour to a purple gown Sonic would have expected those upper class loaded families would wear to social gatherings. It came to her calves but did not pass her ankles. Her shoes were a dark shade of pink and healed, the white top jagged like a six pointed star. In one hand she was holding the hilt of a long-sword. Bandage wrappings had been tied around her shoulder, a dark brown stain revealing they were patching a wound of some kind.

"Hey how's tricks Blaze?" The hedgehog asked with a faint smile, lifting a hand up in the air in greeting. "Hope you don't mind if I crash here for a while." He looked around. "Nice pad by the way. Love what you've done with the place."

"You don't belong here." She told him.

"Yeah I got the message from those two guys outside the dome. You may wanna check on them, I had-ta rough them up a little." Blaze hissed out through her nose. "Look am I gonna have to do this fighting with you crazy catz all day?" The blue hedgehog asked. "It's getting real old and I haven't eaten since this morning." A loud emphasizing growl escaped from his stomach. He outstretched his hand towards her. "Can't we call a truce? You don't want me here and I don't wanna be here. I know someone'll be along for me soon enough so can't we all get along until my ride turns up?" The other felines around watched the blue hedgehog, their eyes occasional glancing up to Blaze as if to see what her reaction would be. The girl feline's face was unreadable. Suddenly she sighed and sheathed her sword.

"I'm tired and fatigued from fighting for now." With that she turned to leave. The cats around her watched as she simply walked away. Suddenly, she stooped; looked back over her shoulder directly towards the blue hedgehog. She looked him over properly, before saying clearly; "Come with me."

* * *

-

Everything hissed around like a trapped animal, steam and smoke drifting out from damaged equipment. Half the Egg Carrier's systems were off line, the engines knee deep in leaking fuel and to top it off, the prized ring, Eggman's inheritance was gone. This would not go unanswered. Unfortunately, Eggman had no more robots to send out for recon never mind military deployment besides Decoe and Becoe and he needed them here to help him repair the ship. The only ones left he could deploy were in the 'reject room'.

"Those outdated relics?" Decoe nearly exclaimed in utter surprised.

"Well since all my other elite robots are…" Eggman paused to give the scorched remains in the repair program pods behind him a glance. Metal Knuckles was the first being worked upon. His outer frame had been shredded and most of the inner circuitry damaged. Even with the help of Nano-bots it was going to take some time before he was combat ready again. "…in the shop, I'll just have to get this old E100 shell out of storage."

"But Doctor." Becoe began sorting through the scattered remains of the laboratory around him. "You haven't used an E100 series robot since the first Egg Carrier. They're horribly outdated."

"And they still out class the Dreadnaughts and we need protective hardware fast." Eggman insisted, sliding a door at the side of the metal wall open. As he did so a cloud of mist floated out, the air beyond the door icy cold. There was a sudden faint mechanical clunk as sensors registered the open door and slowly a row of metal poles slid out. Hanging from them like clothes were old robots Eggman had put to use over the years. There were Egg Pawns, several variations of the Dreadnaught and even several Badniks, deactivated and just hanging there. The ones Eggman was after was directly in the middle.

They had a round middle bulk and long limbs, like all E100 units, a cloven mechanical hand on the left arm and a laser rifle on the right. A white stripe ran vertically down the chest plate from the almost flat flaxen yellow head. A rail around along the outside of the middle, attached to the front was an electric light and at both ends were exhaust pipes. The letters: E102 were plastered on the right hand side.

"Gamma?" Decoe asked looking perplexed. "But Doctor, I thought all the E100 series we made were destroyed?"

"They were." Eggman replied. "But when Gamma proved to be such a useful servant I had his designs saved to disk. Then I had this replacement shell built to replace him if he was ever destroyed in battle."

"Well not have used him before now?" Becoe queried.

"I would have, but this unit has a slight…. problem, so I had it placed in storage." The Doctor stated, before running his hand over a command console. The two robots exchanged glances.

"What sort of problem?" They asked together.

"Command regulations are shot in this one." Eggman paused to consider himself. "It may or may not obey me. It didn't during the beta testing. Since it's been offline for so long I've no way of knowing until I fire it up."

Gamma slid to the floor silently, until his feet slammed against the metal with a loud thud. Eggman and his two robots quickly picked the metal shell back up, propping it against the wall as best they could. The doctor ran his hand over a computer panel at the back of the head and a short metallic panel leading into the robots main body slid open with a loud click.

"Doesn't an E100 series robot need organic batteries like the Badniks?" Decoe asked as Eggman reached inside and began rummaging around with the internal devices.

"My technology has evolved beyond that limitation." The doctor replied, concentrating on feeling around for what he required. His face lit up once he had it and then he withdrew his arm, dragging glass ball with it, thick wires and cables attached to the underside. This was the central power core; it drained the electrical energy of the life form inside and transferred it to the robots battery. Since Eggman was now without a life form small enough to put inside, he had to improvise.

"A Chaos Drive?" Becoe looked amazed at the Doctor's choice of power supply. It was a tube about the size of a pencil, a large red crystal puzzling in the centre. G.U.N used these to power their various combat systems, such as Laser Hunter units and even some Mech's.

"Even if it was invented by armatures like the military, this type of fusion power is rather effective." Eggman announced, before sliding the cylinder inside the glass ball through a small door. Shutting it after him, Eggman then proceeded to push the ball back into the robot itself; careful not to disturb anything important inside. Once his arm was withdrawn, he typed away on the console and the door leading into the main body closed shut.

Almost instantly, the pair of glass optics that sat directly at he front of the curved head lit up accompanied by a loud bleeping noise as the internal systems all began activating one by one. "Ah, welcome back Gamma." Eggman announced as the long arms and legs began to twitch, before finally moving more fluidly. Supporting its own weight, the robot heaved itself back up to its feet.

Its large heaved rotated from side to side, scanning the occupants of the room. When the eyes latched onto Eggman, it brought the barrel of its rifle hard so fast it made the Doctor jump. For a moment it, looked like the robot was about to shoot him. Then it brought the arm over its chest in salute and dropped down to one knee.

_"Main server online; awaiting instructions."_

* * *

-

The felines were confused by what so many strangers were doing in the city and why they were not being attacked by the guards. Void had managed to avoid any unpleasantness by opening his porthole straight into the spiral centre of the settlement, much to the alarm of the palace guards. Several shouts and calls to arms began echoing across the battlements Once they saw Jack come with them however, they were unsure of whether to attack or mind their own business.

The situation was already quite strange for Amy and the others, not that their lives had ever been anything but strange, but this took it to souring new heights. It got even stranger when they were ushered into a main chamber and there, sitting nearby stuffing his face with the food laid out on a long oak table was Sonic. A large pile of empty plates sat at once side and a collection of pastry products stood waiting for attention on the other.

"Hey guys. Took you long enough." The hedgehog called over, before whipping the crumbs from his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

"Sonic!" The blue hedgehog barley had enough time to say hello when Amy tackled him to the cross, her arms wrapping around him a bear hug so tight he could hardly breathe; the food in his hands catapulted across the room to splatter across the walls. Sitting at the far end of the table was Blaze herself. As they entered the room, she and Okida locked gazes. The major's eyes darted from her face to the bandages around her shoulder and the apology could be read on his face.

Blaze diverted her attention away from him and turned to cast a glance around the others, whom her guards had informed her moments ago, had decided to pay them a visit.

"Ah, Jack!" She began sighting her second in command. "You're alive!"

"Yes sir." He replied lowering his head in respect. "I was held captive." He cast a glance towards Void behind him. "I think I'm part of a prisoner exchange." Blaze slowly rose out of her chair, her eyes locked onto Void with a piercing glare like a spear thrust.

"Your kind are not welcome here." Blaze told him, staring Void right in the face. "I give you friendly advice; leave this dimension before someone sticks a knife in your back." Void was silent for a moment, before all of a sudden a wide smirk crossed his face.

"I'll just take my chances if that's all the same with you." Blaze forged an unimpressed frown before turning away.

"Be it on your own head." She muttered. Jack stared directly at Sonic for a moment, before snorting out through his nose and following after his commanding officer.

"Friendly people aren't they?" The blue hedgehog muttered, putting his arms behind his head, a goofy smile on his lips.

"We've been tearing our hair out worrying about you." Amy chided him with a cross expression on her face.

"And all this time you were eating cake?" Knuckles asked folding his arms. Sonic just shrugged with a looped grin.

"I take it you're here for an explanation?" Blaze asked, pausing at the doorway. Everyone looking in the direction of her and his giant subordinate. "If one from Maginaryworld is with you, it means that, finally, we have support."

"Well that depends." Void replied folding his arms. "I'm here to investigate and incursion by your kind on planet Earth. Unless you can give me just cause as to 'why' I should overlook it never mind help you, I'll still have to recommend disciplinary action to queen Illumina."

"I'm confused." Knuckles admitted with a puzzled expression. Blaze managed a short smirk.

"Allow me to show you something…"

At the centre of the city and the giant tower was a giant central chamber. Everything, corridors, buildings, streets had been build so they pointed to this exact spot. Amongst the almost renaissance themed city, this chamber seemed out of place. It was made completely of metal and devices they would normal contribute to Eggman running down every wall. Directly in the centre was a towering metallic pillar with thick segmented metal cables running to it from the ceiling and the floor. About halfway up it's length it had a flat pedestal that spurt out for a two foot radius.

"This is the Arcanum." Blaze exclaimed, gesturing up at the giant yellow crystal as it floated in place. "It is what keeps this entire landmass floating in the air." Knuckles simply stood stark still, staring up at the jewel with a dazed expression on his face. Was this what the Master Emerald wanted him to see? Another version of itself, a mirror image? If that was so, then why? "It also acts as a repellent. Dragon's can't stand being within a certain distance of its radiation. It has kept us safe for over fifty years now." Jack added in.

"This here is Sebastian." Blaze announced, introducing the feline nearby. He wore a red robe with a hood hiding his eyes. From what they could see he was old, his form hunched as he walked and he required a walking stick. "He is the court magician and overseer of the Arcanum."

"Fat lot of good he was protecting it the first place." Jack remarked callously, folding his large muscular arms. The ears under the old feline's hood twitched.

"If I recall, you were nowhere to be seen when the metal creepers attacked either." He stated, pushing back his hood to reveal his face. A wrinkled old feline he was, with bald patches in his fur across his forehead and underneath his mussel.

"Are you calling me a coward?" Jack snarled, barring his fangs; uncrossing his arms with his claws held ready.

"Enough." Blaze called out silencing them both. Amy looked over at Sonic.

"I don't get it." She admitted gaining his attention. "I thought they were stealing this from the military?" Blaze's left ear twitched as she turned around.

"We are not the ones who did the stealing." The feline told the pink hedgehog with a stern glare that made Amy stand almost rigidly to attention. Sonic tried to suppress a giggle and failed. "The Apes or the… _military_… as you call then, stole the Arcanum from us first." Void forged a frown and folded his arms in front of himself.

"G.U.N doesn't have dimension travelling technology." He stated narrowing his eyes and Blaze slowly turned to face him. "How could they have stolen it if they were incapable of getting here in the first place?" The feline was utterly silent before a smile broke past her lips.

"You don't believe me?" She asked.

"Not without proof." Void replied. She smiled at him coyly.

"Then you shall have it." She snapped her fingers and Sebastian bowed then made his way to the controls at the side of the giant metallic tower, before running his hands over the controls. There was a brief buzz before a projector cast a holographic image directly into the centre of the room, focusing it into a perfect circle. Within this sphere, they observed the dome that encircled the city and the jungle surrounding it. "This is a recording taken from our patrols. Several weeks ago, a hole in the sky was opened." As she spoke it happened, the sky in the hologram opened up, stretching out with its edges sparking with bolts of lightning. "We have been intruded upon by dimension travellers before, but they always left in a hurry once they discovered the Dragon Blood. These people however…." Almost on cue, several large long legged objects dropped out of the hole and landed with a deafening thud between the trees.

Okida blinked, recognising them instantly as the latest G.U.N Mech's; those Creepers that had attacked them outside Area 99. The 'G' symbol across their armoured fronts was unmistakeable. They stomped over everything in their path, crushing entire clumps of trees underfoot and made a direct B-line towards the dome.

"Very well." Void sighed, having no wish to see any more. "I will accept that G.U.N did… somehow… cross dimensions to get here. Once that assumption is made, the rest of the story rights itself."

"The military stole the Arcanum… so you come to our world to get it back." Knuckles put in, folding his large arms in front of himself. Blaze nodded once.

"This island can only stay up for so long without it and we risk the inevitable prospect of attack by Dragons. Retrieving it was of utmost importance." She stated, turning away to look up at the giant crystal. The red jewel directly in the centre of her forehead glowed brightly in response to its closeness to the Arcanum, a beacon of blinking light.

"Well that explains why you were attacking the army." Amy began rolling her eyes towards the ceiling in thought. "But why would G.U.N take a Dragon back from here to our world?" The picture of that giant flying reptile bursting out of the base in a spray of brick dust was firmly lodged in all their minds. "They must have known how dangerous it was?" Okida shook his head.

"I don't think it was deliberate." He stated gaining everyone's attention. "If the Dragon Blood is really a disease, then I guess one of those Mech pilots must have caught it while he was here."

"Taking it back to our world…" Rouge added in.

"Where he kept mutating until he became one of them." Knuckles almost said from

between clenched teeth. Blaze nodded.

"And possibly spreading it onto others." There was a sudden silence as the group digested this information, the stunned expressions on their faces playing testament to the unique horror of the situation.

"Just how fast does this infection spread?" Void asked, now finally seeing the seriousness of the situation.

"It can kill an entire town in a week." Was Blaze's flat reply as she fixed him with an iron stare. "And produce an entire swarm of Dragons in a month."

"If Dragon Blood is loose in our world…" Rouge began, but she was already stating what everyone was already thinking. If it was running amok through their world then it could render the entire planet just as barren as this one; and do it very quickly.

"I think it's about time I knew everything there is to know about this disease." Void stated.

* * *

--

Blaze showed them to a more comfortable room in the higher levels. Her own personal study was a towering library with rows of books going up the walls all the way to the ceiling. The floor was carpeted with red and the furniture was a fine varnished oak. A chandelier hung from the ceiling. A tall tainted green window looked out across the city on the far side of the room, casting a strange emerald light into the room. It made everything look quite strange in some way.

"My lady." A feline solider rushed up to the entrance before Blaze could close the door after them. "More strangers have arrived; they claim to know the blue one." She gestured with a nod of his head towards Sonic.

"Exactly how many people have you invited?" Blaze asked looking back at Sonic irritably.

"Hey this is news to me." The blue hedgehog replied holding his hands up. Blaze sighed out load in irritation.

"Show them in." The solider bowed respectfully and left, the sound of his armour clattering against itself echoing down the hall.

"Impressive collection." Void commented looking upon the books in the bookcases on the floor level. "An avid reader?" He asked looking back towards the feline. Blaze shook her head.

"This was my grandfather's study." She replied. "He liked to read a lot. He was king when the Dragon Blood first came, then he died and then my father shortly after. I look over from him." No one said anything about it after that.

"I should have known." A familiar voice stated from the doorway. Sonic looked up in mute surprise to see Shadow standing in the doorway, a frown spread over his face. His deep scarlet eyes were locked onto the blue hedgehog. He appeared most annoyed. "Why is it whenever something horribly out of the ordinary happens, you guys are at the heart of it all?" He asked again stepping fully into the room. Tikal following him, waving to Amy.

"Just lucky I guess." Sonic replied shrugging.

"How'd you get here?" Okida asked out load looking a little surprised.

"I could very well ask of you the same question." Even as Shadow spoke, Metal Sonic stepped into the room after him. It was if someone had dropped a cat into a box full of rats, Amy took hold of her war hammer and held it ready. Knuckles adopted a fighting stance with Rouge on either side. The major tore his long barrelled shot gun out of the holster at his side, the barrel instantly flicked in the robotic hedgehog's direction.

Sonic just smiled and said…

"Hey Metal how's it hanging?" The robotic hedgehog looked up at him, the red glow to his half eclipsed eyes dying away to a minimum.

"_Fine, considering I find myself once again wrapped in another of your misadventures." _Sonic's smile turned goofy and he scratched the back of his head absently. "_So just what is happening this time?"_

"Fire breathing Dragons, jumps across reality, death raining from the skies and military conspires."

"_So business as normal for you then?"_ Sonic just laughed at the remark. Sensing that the robotic hedgehog had no intentions to attacking them, closed fists and weapons were lowered.

"I take it you know these three?" Jack asked Okida.

"Yeah they're…" The vampire bat paused to give Metal Sonic a look over. "Friends of ours." A brief period was spent swapping stories, which with Sonic's low attention span took some time. Shadow quickly gave an account of their tangle with Eggman and Metal Sonic intrusion and their arrival in this new realm, with the robotic hedgehog insisting that he was not entirely to blame for that incident. Since the blue hedgehog was on the verge of utter boredom, Amy recounted their story of their fight at Area 99 and their own trip here. Blaze sat back outside the conversations having no idea what they were talking about.

"So you were saying about the Dragon Blood?" Void asked Blaze.

"It came to us a few decades ago." She replied without looking at him. "From another world by the hands of a sadist."

"What are you saying?" Void asked suddenly well alarmed. "That the Dragon Blood isn't from this dimension to begin with?" Everyone went silent from their own conversations and stopped to stare.

"Yes. That was why we tried to contact Maginaryworld for help." She adopted a frown. "And were completely ignored."

"Hold on." Shadow remarked quickly butting into the conversation. "If it didn't come from this world, just where originate?" Blaze sighed and hoisted herself out of her chair.

"Some decades ago, our world was visited by a multidimensional entity. He arrived in Fellena accompanied by a multitude of creatures he had gathered from other realties. Those amongst them were the beings people from Earth refer to as 'Dragons'" She began wandering of to the book case.

"Who was it?" Void asked impatiently.

"He did not give us his name. No one ever saw him, just heard his voice." Blaze relied, withdrawing a book from the third shelf. It was thick and heavy, the cover simple brown leather. "He announced he was here for the purpose of experimentation and if we left him alone, he afford us the same courtesy." She went back with the book in hand and handed it to Void. "This is my grandfather's journal. The last few pages tell the story far better than I can." Void shot her a sceptical glance before looking down at the book. It had the royal crest he had seen on the shield outside placed on the top and inscribed in the top in gold letters was the name; Sebastian Lynx. Flipped the book open he scanned through the last few pages. Suddenly he paused and looked up at Blaze. Everyone followed his gaze. The feline's expression was unreadable.

"December the first: Our visitor has, since his arrival, given us no trouble. Thus far he had kept his word to leave us alone." Void began reading out load for everyone's benefit. "But an unnerving silence has settled over the capital. Something had changed; I taste it in the air but am unsure of what. Those around me can feel it too. This new atmosphere is unsettling."

"Sets the mood doesn't it?" Sonic asked no one in particular.

"December 5th." Void continued after casting the blue hedgehog a glare for interrupting. "Strange howling can be heard at night coming from the craters the visitor has made his home. Our scout group reporting seeing the corpse of one of the winged reptiles the Visitor brought with him. According to their report it was horribly warped, mangled out of shape. Nothing known to us could do this to an animal so large. When our visitor claimed he was here simply for the purposes of Experimentation I admit I did not think much of it. Now I ponder exactly what 'experiments' he could be performing."

"It gets worse." Blaze assured him. "Read on."

"December 15th. The sickness was first reported as a viral outbreak in the outlying colonies. Only too late did anyone realize it was much more than that. It spreads too rapidly to effectively combat and more people are falling sick each passing day." Everyone listened in mute horror, even Metal Sonic, as Void read from the book. "More and more flying reptiles can be seen in the skies each day and reports are that they becoming increasingly aggressive. Something is clearly wrong here. The children have started calling our visitor: the Dark One, believing he is the source of our troubles and I'm not sure I disagree with them."

Void flipped the page to discover the last journal entry. It was hastily written, the ink splattered across the page at the end of the last sentence. "December 20th." He began, only to stop there as he read. He looked up to see all eyes on him. "This will, in all likely hood, be my last entry. While I do not understand the science behind it, it is now clear that our visitor has been using our world as the target of a heinous experiment.

Attempting to create hybrid soldiers for an army, he was trying to merge both ourselves and the reptiles he brought with him. The result of his efforts is the disease now ravaging my people. When they die, they become deranged eating machines that burn everything in their path. The people have dubbed this, the Dragon Blood.

I go now to lead the army. We march on the craters. The dark one will answer for his crimes against the Feline people, against Fellena and against nature itself." There was a short silence after that as Void had reached the end of the book.

"They didn't last five minutes." Blaze stated. Tikal gasped and put her hands to her mouth.

"Just who is this 'Dark One'?" Shadow asked giving Void a glare. The small impish being put the book down on the table in front of him.

"I honestly don't know. But what am I am sure of now…" He looked up at Blaze. "Is that my people have caused you a great wrong. This is clearly a case of extreme dimension intrusion and we ignored you when you asked for help."

"A bit too late for apologies now." The feline reminded him sourly. "Almost half of Fellena has been burnt to ashes by those Dragons and whatever remains of this world will soon follow."

"Not if we stop it first." Sonic remarked. Blaze shot him an icy glare.

"And how do you intend to go about doing that? We've been fighting the Dragon Blood for years, we know all there is to know about it and believe when I tell you, it is unbeatable."

"No I don't think it is." Okida remarked. All eyes were suddenly on him. "It occurs to me, from what I've seen at least, you've been trying to fight the Dragons using weapons to blast them out of the sky. But your forgetting it's not really them you're fighting against; it's the virus that creates them."

"Our technological level is not sufficient enough for us to acquire the same science as the Dark one." Blaze replied. "And even IF we had that science, there is no way we could unravel precisely how he went about creating the Dragon Blood."

_"Well…"_ Metal Sonic began. _"This story hints at the possibly of genetic experimentation. I have extensive files one this subject from experiments by own Federation once conducted."_ The robotic hedgehog stopped in mid sentence to consider something. _"Have any been to these 'craters' where your visitors was supposed to be?"_ Blaze shook her head.

"No. They lie deep within the hunting territory of the Blood. It's impossible to get near them without being scorched alive." Sonic cracked his knuckles.

"That sounded like a challenge to me." Blaze hissed loudly in his direction.

"Don't be a fool!" She told him. "I know how fast you can run, but trust me when I say this. You'll be outnumbered. The Dragons will surround you within seconds and burn you to a crisp." The smile on Sonic's lips refused to leave.

"Who said anything about running?" With a short buzzing, he disappeared in the midst of a Chaos control warp and then nearly instantly reappeared next to the feline, who meowed loudly leapt out of her seat, telekinetically drawing her sword.

While the arguing began, Void pulled Knuckles aside to speak to him privately.

"I need your help." The echidna blinked in surprise.

"What for?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I need you to come with me to see the Black Arms on Mars." The Echidna looked a little stunned. "This Dark one…" Void continued, looking back over his shoulder to see if they were being overheard. "I don't want to say anything in front of Blaze, but I have heard rumours."

"Rumours?" Knuckles asked raising an eyebrow.

"Quite a few people all different realities come and go across dimension planes and it's a hard job to keep track of all of them." Void explained. "I won't hinder you with the details of it as this and your dimensions have enough problems to worry about, but just to sum it up, I have heard scattered reports of various calamities being caused in different dimensions. According to the residents of those worlds, it all begins when a stranger arrives in their land." He paused briefly to consider something. "A few times we've investigated over the years but since we couldn't find any evidence of dimensional travel we just let it go at that." He brought a forefinger and thumb to his chin. "But now I'm beginning to wonder if they all might be connected?"

"Well we'll know more once we examine those canyons won't we." Knuckles put in. Void sighed and hovered up, folding his arms in front of himself.

"Something is very wrong here." He stated. "I feel as if…" Void stopped, before straitening his shoulders and slowly glancing around the room. Jack was still trying to calm Blaze done and Sonic and Shadow were arguing as to who would go explore the canyons. "As if we're being watched somehow."

"Watched?" The Echidna repeated, glancing around him. Apart from those in the study with them there was no one lurking around and Knuckles could sense no other presence within listening distance. An eerie silence followed and the echidna could feel the fur on his arms and legs stand on end. "I see nothing." He admitted.

"Watching with eyes we can not see." Void added slowly, glancing from left to right. "I can not see it either, but… somehow I just feel someone's eyes on me." Knuckles was silent for a moment before sighing out load.

"Perhaps we're just getting a little paranoid." Void remained utterly silent for at least a minute, his eyes darting across all in front of him as if what he was looking for was within glancing distance.

"Yeah…" He relented eventually. "I guess we have been stretching ourselves a little far in the last few years." He loaded his arms behind his head with a sigh. "Perhaps I'm just looking for things that aren't there."

"Must be." Knuckles added in. "But why do we need the Black Arms?"

"Because if Metal Sonic is right and this is a chase of genetic engineering gone wrong, I want the best minds in the subject on the job and the Black Arms are those minds." Void replied simply.

Their watcher turned his attention away as their conversations were drifting to less important matters. So, this was the Overseer of Maginaryworld, second in command to Queen Illumina herself? The renowned Void? Pitiful.

Better late than never that he started to suspect something, but even then he didn't know exactly what game he was now entangled in. But even if he did, the notion that he could do something about it was highly comical.

Directing his attention away, the watcher knew that the time was almost here. The actors he had cultivated for so long were already warming up for their roles and the play itself would begin in less than two years time and once it did, there was no stopping it.

"My son's have done a good job moulding you into the creature you are." He whisper, arching his hand forward and calling forth the image of a hedgehog. Long blade quills with red stripes running down either side. "The time for your central role in my grand play is nearly here Shadow." His fingers expanded and more images began running along that of the black and red hedgehog. Sonic was there, along with Metal Sonic and Amy Rose. "And of course, I have roles planned out for your little friends as well." A pair of glowing orange eyes narrowed with sadistic delight, a third directly above opening with a wet slap.

The fingers contracted and Sonic was left on his own. "Especially this one." A thick surge of hate boiled through before the watcher let the illusion drop and he turned his thoughts to other things. The arrival of both Sonic and Shadow in this dimension, not to mention the rude intrusion on behalf of the humans' military, was an unexpected event that could throw a giant wrench into the works. That had to be countered and quickly. "Rest assured you'll know more soon enough." He muttered, before all three eyes glowed brightly. "But I can't let you discover too much until I'm good and ready."


	8. Not what it seems

Dragons were anything but simple minded creatures. Years of evolution on their home world had given them acute hunting intelligence, even that of puzzle solving. That combined with their fire, flight and sheer size and strength made them one of the greatest predators in existence.

Fiercely territorial, they patrolled the skies above hunting grounds. Often on their own, but when they felt their territory to be threatened by invaders they would move together into packs. There was hardly anything left to eat on Fellena now and their kind was growing more and hungrier.

The one who held their leashes however had forbidden them from attacking the felines on the floating island and show they circled endlessly looking for something left to eat. Before too long, they'd be forced to resort to cannibalism.

Teleporting past them, Sonic and Shadow emerged from Chaos Control on a small ridge just out of sight. Metal Sonic tagged along, reducing the burn from his built in engines to utterly zero to avoid being overhead. So he was forced to walk at that point along with them.

When they reached the craters Blaze had spoke off, they were created with a strange sight. An entire valley littered with holes from high velocity impacts stretched to the horizon. The ground was barren and cracked, deep ravines carved into the rock face.

But what was of real interest lay before them in the largest crater.

"What in the world is all this?" Sonic asked starting around at the scared remains around him as they walked down the side and into the crater bowl. There had been buildings here, quite recently in fact. Their shattered remains stood out against the dirt and mud on the ground. Metal Sonic knelt down and dipped his claws into the dirt, scooping it up inn his hand. It was blackened with soot, but he could tell right away that this had not been caused by the Dragons outside. They swirled around this hidden fortress; never flying too close as being with a certain distance of the craters caused them distress.

"This has to have been a laboratory of some kind." Shadow remarked, lifting a piece of curved glass out of the ground. It had been shattered directly along the front but it was clear it was some kind of container. Strange markings in a language neither Sonic nor Shadow recognised ran across the curved surface.

"Looks like those Dragons really tore this place apart." Sonic remarked, placing his hands on his hips, glancing around the scorched walls. Anything substantial inside this place had been reduced to ashes.

"I don't think so." Metal Sonic added, straightened up. "My sensors are detecting residue from an explosion." The two organic hedgehogs blinked before looking his way. The robotic hedgehog lifted his metal hand, showing them the blackened soil he had between his fingers. "This contains intense traces of carbonized materials, sodium and oxygenized particles." Sonic stood there with a blank look on his face. Shadow rolled his eyes.

"He's saying that a bomb did this not the Dragons." The blue hedgehog remained still before going…

"Oh." His face adopted a puzzled expression. "But I thought Blaze said their army didn't make it to the craters." Shadow took another look around at the debris around him. "I don't think they did, but then who set the bomb?" Metal Sonic remained silent as he let the dirt drop from his hand and as he did so, he noticed something in the ground by his feet.

"Well whoever it was." Shadow began. "It's clear there was something here that someone didn't want anyone to see and I doubt those dragons could use explosives."

"There's more to it than that." The robotic hedgehog added in. "Look at this." He jabbed a single metal talon down at the ground. Following his gaze Sonic and Shadow could see a foot print in the front. The print were deep at the heal, showing that whatever made them walked on two legs. Claw marks ended at each of the four toes but the print was far too small to have belonged to a Dragon.

The only thing either of them knew that matched these foot prints was a feline.

"I don't get it." Sonic stated, now terribly confused. "Why would felines set a bomb to go off here?"

"They're not even supposed to use them; their technology is too different for it." Shadow added, forged an annoyed frown. The print was relatively fresh. With the lack of rain in this world it could well be a few days old, but no more than that.

"Either Blaze was lying to us." Metal Sonic began slowly as he stood back up straight and stared back across the wasteland towards the faint outline of the flying island in the distance. "Or there's more going on here than even she realizes." The two organic hedgehogs behind him were silent for a moment.

"I think we should get back now." Shadow announced. Sonic just nodded in agreement.

* * *

-

Once again, Vector's suggestions proved fruitless. A cover-up of this scale wasn't going to leave much in the way of finger prints lying around. The entire editing section of The Falling Star media building was as clean as a whistle in terms of incriminating evidence, not that the chameleon expected to find any evidence simply lying out in the open for him.

Espio was quick to realize that if he was going to get anything in the way of solid evidence he going to have to go about doing it more directly.

Sliding unnoticed into the officer of the company's president, Espio stepped quietly into a corner, keeping his eyes on a secretary sitting at a desk on the far end of the room.

"Hey Espio, I've got some new data here for ya!" Vector's loud voice called over the microphone in his ear, so loud the woman looked up in surprise. Espio fumbled with the headset, quickly turning off the communications link. The secretary looked around for a brief moment, before shrugging her shoulders and getting back to her computer. The chameleon let out a silent sigh of relief and tiptoed past her, creeping across the room to the large double door with the words; Arthur Cross, Company President, printed in gold of a plague directly in the centre.

The chameleon put his ear to the door. He could hear nothing beyond. As quietly as he could he turned the handle. The secretary behind him was making too loud a noise with her typing to notice the subtle click as the door opened and then closed. Once inside, Espio surveyed the room. It was the President's office alright, a large pine desk at the far end with potted plants about in the corners.

There was a door leading into a side room in the wall on the right, a large set of windows revealing the city to the left. Espio, against his better judgement, switched the headset back on.

"Espio, what's the big idea?" Vector demanded almost at once.

"You almost blew my cover that's the idea." The chameleon replied, keeping his voice down as he became visible again. "Sorry I had to cut the line off there, what's the new Intel?" There was a brief moment of static as Vector handed the mic over to somebody else.

"Hey Espio, you there? It's me." A new voice asked. It was Rei.

"Yeah what's up?" The chameleon asked, advancing over to a collection of filing cabinets behind the desk.

"We checked the background on this 'Henry Patterson guy," The flying squirrel began. "He seemed pretty clean at first. Wife, two kids; job at Hexagon industries as a research scientist. Makes about twenty grand a year."

"Nothing about turning into a dragon unless he takes his medication?" Espio asked as a jest.

"Nope. But we did manage to find something interesting."

"Like?"

"We managed to get a look at his accounts up to his reported death. He was making a lot of dough from something, extra income way above his normal salary. He was even in the process of creating a Swiss bank account to hide it to avoid paying tax." Espio blinked in curiosity. Now that was interesting.

"Know where he was getting the extra stuff from?" The chameleon asked.

"No. But I can tell you it wasn't in anything illegal. In fact, the watch dogs looked the other way when it was deposited in his account. It was lawful, or at least everyone was paid to mind their own business."

"Then just where was he getting the extra cash from?" Espio wondered out load. Suddenly he heard voices coming from the door. It sounded like two men talking to each other and they were getting closer. "I'll have to call you back." The chameleon whispered into the mic before turning it off. Shadows cast themselves underneath the door before the handle began turning. At the last second, Espio turned invisible and darted slid to the side to avoid his shadow or faint outline being seen.

"It's getting too much to handle Frank." One of those who entered muttered. From his against the wall Espio watched. The speaker was the President of the company to whom this office belonged, Arthur Cross. The chameleon recognised him from the picture outside the door. "Their leaning on us to hard to print only what they say I'm loosing business."

"Whattaya mean loosing business?" The other man, Frank; Espio supposed, asked. He was a good head and shoulders taller than Arthur with short cut brown hair and gold eyes. He seemed a bit out of place in an office wearing a blue jacket and a pair of jeans. "With Hexagon running the show we get to run the other media groups into the ground."

"And what good does that do us if people won't use our company?" Arthur asked in return. "The public are refusing to buy our newspapers because we have those company tycoons telling us what to write about." He went over and sat down at his desk. "Now they're calling us liars because we told them what they saw is was a lie."

"We're the press Arthur." Frank reminded him. "Face it, at the end of the day; the public believe what WE tell them to believe."

"I can't be a party to anything like that." Arthur sighed, leaning on his desk burying his face in his hands. The top of his shirt had been undone and tie loosened. A great deal of anxiety was on his face.

"I thought you might say that." Frank replied, reaching into his jacket and withdrawing a gun. Espio froze at the sight of it. There was even a silencer on the end of the barrel. "That being the case, I'm afraid your run as President of the company is now over." Arthur looked him right in the face, eyes widening.

"What are you doing Frank?" The other human just raised the gun to point directly at him. "What in the name of hell are you doing?"

"Taking your place what does it look like?" Frank asked with a grim smile. "Hexagon's a tad concerned you might blow the whistle on them to the public and they can't have that. So that means you have to go. Falling Star's my company now."

"Killing me won't get you it." Arthur protested loudly, raising his voice to try and attract someone's attention.

"Don't bother yelling. No one can hear you, not even that busty secretary you keep around. I paid her to have a five minute early lunch break." Was Frank's reply, the sneer over his lips spreading wide. "As for the company, Hexagon's already given me their word that if you don't cooperate with them then it's all mine and since they're the legal owners, what they say goes."

"Wait… Wait we can make a deal…" Arthur began, slowing standing up out of his chair and holding his hands up defensively.

"Too late for that old buddy." Frank raised his gun and his finger tightened around the trigger.

"The police… the police will match the bullet to that gun…" Arthur whimpered, jabbing a finger several times at the weapon.

"Not with Hexagon pulling the strings of their budget they won't." Frank replied, mere seconds away from pulling the trigger. Espio had seen enough now.

Frank doubled backwards as something slammed into his stomach and then crashed to the floor as some invisible object scoured an upper cut across his chin. The gun went spinning from his hand and across the room. Frank tried swiping out but found himself unable to hit his invisible opponent. The chameleon became visible behind him, brought his leg sharply around and knocked Frank's feet out from under him. As he toppled backwards, Espio dealt one last blow to his head that knocked the human to the floor with a loud thud. He did not get up again.

Arthur was left standing there with a dumbfounded look on his face.

"You can start by saying thank you." The chameleon told him, turning to face the bewildered human.

"Just who are you?" The man demanded.

"My name isn't important." Espio told him sharply. "I want information and you are going to give it to me." His eyes cast a gaze back at the unconscious man on the floor. "And from that little scene I'm willing to bet you have it."

"He was supposed to be my best friend. We went to high school together." Arthur almost whispered. "But he was prepared to kill me without a second thought."

"And they'll be more after your neck before too long." Espio warned him. "Unless of course you want to tell me exactly what you know that Hexagon finds so threatening."

* * *

-

Blaze had already been told Void was returning with a specialist to help them unravel the mysteries of the Blood and that this specialist would not be a feline. Even so, she was quite unprepared for the sight of the being that accompanied them as the porthole opened up again.

The creature they returned with was perhaps the most bizarre looking thing Blaze had ever seen in her life. For a moment the feline almost mistook it for a Dragon with the scales running over the body as skin. It was roughly humanoid, with reptilian features like a long muscular tail acting as a counterbalance for the long and arms at the front. Its hands were cloven, each large finger ending in a curved talon. A pair of large, wet flaxen yellow eyes stood out at the front edge of the face curving out like a dome. There didn't seem to be a mouth, at least not one that Blaze could see. Its skin was dark grey, almost jet black but changed to crimson around the end of each limb and at the peek of its tail. Startled by the creature's appearance, Jack drew his hunting knife.

Blaze held her arm out to stop him from doing anything foolish.

"Jailos!" Amy began with a wide smile spreading over her lips, recognising the being as it emerged completely from the gateway.

Jailos was the Black Arm they met while their ship, the Typhoon had been captured by the Black Arm fleet. It was her who helped them escape the confines of the mother ship. Her race was Fesonian, heralding from the planet Feson; a world in a completely different spiral arm of the galaxy.

"Good to see you again Amy." Jailos replied with a slight inclination of her head. "When Void and Knuckles asked for my help I admit I wasn't exactly prepared for anything quite like dimensional travel." She waved her large hand in the air as if dismissing something.

"Yeah, this kind of thing takes a little getting used to." The pink hedgehog omitted with a slight grin. Suddenly she blinked, noticing the lack of a translator device around Jailos' neck. "Hey, you can speak in our language perfectly now!" The Fesonian equivalent of a smile passed over her face.

"It comes with practise." She explained. "As part of a good relation program between our two cultures, Commander Rikoye insisted all top officials learn how to speak English without the use of a translator device."

"You're a top official?" Amy asked in surprise.

"Well I was the one who took the initiative to help you during the rise of the Destroyer." Jailos reminded her. "I was awarded with the position upon my return to my people. It's purely a ceremonial title; my real job is overseer of the genetics division." She paused to give Knuckles a glance as he stepped out of Void's gateway tugging something of great weight out behind him. "Which his why I'm told I was asked to come here." The Echidna grunted one last time and pulled a large box twice his height out of the porthole before it shut behind him with a shunting sound like blunt metal scraping against itself.

"Just what is in this?" Knuckles asked, pausing to catch his breath. He could lift some of the heaviest boulders but this thing was almost more than he could hardly. It was roughly box shaped with a single silver line running horizontally around the middle. The strange rune like Fesonian language was seemingly engraved in vertical rows along the lid.

"That your luggage?" The pink hedgehog asked pointing at it.

"My equipment actually." Jailos replied, pressing one of her long fingers directly on the top. Like a snake shedding its skin, the surface peeled back layer by layer espousing a complex set of glass instruments underneath.

Void had brought the Black Arm here because their race were professionals in the field of genetic engineering. If that was what created the Dragon blood, Void wanted to know how, who by and of course the motive behind it.

Blaze was watching the alien set up her equipment with great interest, her large servant Jack standing nearby drumming his fingers on his quadriceps. He trusted none of their visitors, this newsiest edition by far. Noticing an absence, Void looked around to see that Amy was standing away from rest of them at the far side of the room looking out the window.

"You ok?" Void asked. Amy sighed but did not look back, continuing to the stare out the window across the stretch of the Felines city.

"Just confused is all."

"Confused?" Void replied.

"Everything's just gone mad." Amy continued with a melancholy look on her face, folding her arms on the window ledge. "Alternate worlds, dimension travel, alien races, zombie dragons…" He hissed through clenched teeth and let her head flop down on her arms in front of her. "I should be going to university by now if all this strange stuff didn't keep happening." She looked up and smiled grimly. "But what bothers me the most is I wouldn't chance my life in anyway." Void raised an eyebrow questioningly. "How could I sit down to exams and stuff when I know all this is going on. I've fought alongside heroes and helped save my world more than a dozen of times. How many people of campus age can say that?"

"Not many that I know anyway." Void replied with a looped grin. Amy smiled back.

"I mean, I want some of the normal things life has to offer but… I don't want to give up adventuring either." She paused and then sighed deeply. "I can't have both can I?" Void remained utterly silent for a moment.

"If you want advice, then you're probably talking to the wrong guy." He replied eventually. "I often wonder what my life would have been like if I hadn't repelled against Illumina that long ago." He leaned back against wall. "I guess I'd still be one of her utter loyal and fanatical guards, and by now she would have spread her influence to every corner of existence in an attempt to crush evil, but would have destroyed free will in the process." Amy blinked in confusion.

"That sounds horrible."

"Yeah it does." Void agreed with a single nod. "But it's still the path I didn't take so I wonder perhaps if it would have played out how I imagined it." He looked her straight in the eye. "And thinking about it now, it's something I don't think I could live with. You wonder how your life would be if you lived on Campus in comparison to your present one on a space ship? I think you can answer that question yourself." Silence endured between them for a moment. Amy sighed suddenly and then smiled.

"Hardly as exciting, that goes without saying and knowing about all this…" She gestured to nearly everything around her. "I don't think I could endure university for long." Her smile faded a little. "But it's normal, that's what I want, a piece of normalcy in my life. I just want something that's NORMAL!" Void managed his own grin.

"Define normal." Amy struck silent by that. "Everyone, on Earth and otherwise, has their own definition of what's normal. Take Sonic for instance. For him, it's perfectly normal to be in near constant combat with bad guys. Then Knuckles, for him utterly normalcy is living on an island in the clouds. Now does that sound normal to you?" She shook her head. "Damn right it doesn't and I can bet you if you ask them, they'd find the notion of going to University strange and unusual."

"It's all how you look at it huh?" Amy asked looking up.

"Try to keep that in mind when adrift in a sea of utter insanity." Void reminded her before floating away.

Jailos retracted her head back from the microscope lens and blinked her large yellow eyes to clarify them. Blaze looked up in anticipation anticipating anything that might be of some help.

"Now that's interesting." The Black Arm stated.

"What is?" Void asked floating near with Blaze near hovering over his shoulder.

"Well, from what I can tell…" Jailos began. "The Dragon Blood isn't actually a disease; in fact it's not even a proper form of life. D.N.A from various species have been blended together into one, thus creating the epidemic sweeping your world. It's a composite, trying to imitate life by copying, absorbing and then mutating the genetic code." Blaze nodded, not really understanding the words but getting the gist of it.

"The Dark one's experiments."

"Correct." Jailos replied. "I have tried to decipher what he mutated to create such infectious beings but the chemical bounds are so tightly interwoven I can not. Although one thing is already clear from that. This… **_Dark One_**… as you put it, had access to a genetics technology way in advance of my own." Void growled in his throat.

"I thought as much." He sighed through clenched teeth. "This is one hell of a dimensional breech. I just don't understand how it passed us by for so long."

"Another thing." Jailos continued interrupting the overseer of Maginaryworld. "The genetic code of the Dragon Blood isn't simple a random blurring of species created by an accident. It's far too complex a strain for that."

"What do you mean?" Blaze asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I mean this, Dark One, of yours couldn't possibly have made the mistakes that created the Dragon Blood. A genetic splicing this superior could not be a simple accident." Void and Blaze cast each other a glance.

"You mean he unleashed it on purpose?" They seemed to ask at the same time. Jailos nodded once.

"That's the only conclusion I can draw at the moment. I might have more given time."

"That monstrous bastard!" Blaze hissed. Void remained silent, his eyes narrowed as he hovered there deep in thought. Something very strange was going on here. Why would anyone purposely create a virus as deadly as the Dragon Blood? Surely they wouldn't go to all that trouble simply to be malicious? But try as he might Void could not seek out the reasoning behind it. Perhaps there was more to it, a nugget of information he was missing.

Hopefully, when Sonic's team returned they would have some more light to shed on the subject.

And they did, but it what they came back with was more confusing than revealing.

"What is this?" Blaze demanded and the three hedgehogs, two organic and one mechanical confronted her upon their return.

"You heard me." The blue hedgehog stated with an unblinking stare. "Whoever was up there had that place blown sky high, by a bomb planted by a Feline." The cat stared him out for a grand total of five seconds.

"That's ridiculous." She eventually stated. "My people can't even leave the island. How could we have possibly gotten to the craters to do as you claim? None of us have ever been there." Okida was silent for a moment, putting a forefinger and thumb to his chin deep in thought.

"You say the Dragon's can't stand the presence of the Arcanum?" Shadow asked and Blaze shot him a sharp, blade edge like glare.

"Of course. It's what keeps them off the Island."

"So in theory you could remove the Arcanum from the energy chamber, take it with you and it would keep them from burning you alive. Like a giant bug zapper."

"In theory." Blaze reminded him. "But you forget; the Arcanum is also what keeps this island flying above the devastation below. Without it, we'd drop like a rock into the ground."

"Yeah, besides, what motivation could they have for blowing up that place?" Knuckles asked, taking Blaze's side in the argument.

"How long can the island stay airborne without the Arcanum?" Okida asked after ending his brief moment of silence.

"About a few weeks if we went on energy conversation for that long." Jack replied. "That's how we managed without it when the Apes had their raid."

"Then there's your answer." The major told him. "Simply take the Arcanum, travel to the craters and back, then place the Arcanum back in its place before your home goes crashing down."

"Believe me, if the Arcanum had been taken, I'd notice." Blaze told him, tapping a finger to her forehead and the perfectly oval red jewel there. "This is the locator stone. Its connection to the Arcanum itself keeps me informed of its present whereabouts at all times. It's what altered me when the Apes stole it."

"But it doesn't work as well in their world I'm willing to say." Void began suddenly, his eyes widening. "Tell me Blaze, who gave you that stone?"

"The court magician, Sebastian, the Overseer of the Arcanum." She replied. "He's an expert enchanter. He harnessed the magic jewel from a fragment of the Arcanum that broke off several years ago." There was a sudden silence as Void hovered there, mouth half open. Suddenly he shut it and folded his arms.

"Just the one fragment for this?" He asked, gesturing in the direction of the red jewel. "The Arcanum's capable of lifting an entire continent into the air. Something tells me a fragment ought to manage more a simple locator spell and teleportation enchantment."

"What are you saying?" Blaze asked with hard eyes. "That Sebastian's been deceiving me?"

"If he was the creator of that stone, he may very well be in control of when it alarms you to the Arcanum's removal or not." Void replied simply.

"But why?" Knuckles asked, now the most confused of all those here. "Why go to all that trouble? Why the elaborate scheme? What would he gain from it?" He paused and smiled cruelly. "And what evidence have you got to support this theory?"

"None at the moment." Void admitted. "But I think a word with Sebastian might be in order." Jack cast Blaze a side glance and she did the same, a silent conversation passing between the two of them.

"And I'm inclined to agree with you." Blaze announced after the moment had passed. "I don't know what's going on, but I will not tolerate such things in my city." During the march down to the mages common rooms, it was clear anger was festering in Blaze. Her eyes were alight with rage and burning with embers of frustration.

Sebastian's apartment was a small room at the back of the fortress grounds and by the time they reached the large front door a large crowd had gathered with them, murmuring with conversation; all of them eager to see what the matter was.

Blaze hammered on the door when she reached it but no one came to answer.

"Sebastian. Come on out!" Blaze ordered and still the door did not move. "I'm giving you an order magician!" Not a sound came to her in reply. "Jack, break it down." She announced, her patience finally slipping. Jack cracked his knuckles.

"With pleasure." He stated before throwing a huge fist forward shattering the door right down the middle. Splinters flew everywhere as the door flew inwards, skidding across the inside of the apartment. The inside was so dark it took a few moments for their eyes to adjust to see what lay beyond the threshold. Blaze opened her mouth to order her magician out, when her words froze in her mouth at the sight inside.

There was no wonder now why Sebastian could not come to answer his door. Amy gasped and put her hands to her mouth. Okida just grimaced and looked away. Sonic and Knuckles shot each other a nervous glance before staring back. Lying on the floor by the side of an oak table was Sebastian, face down in a pool of blood. Driven through his robes and in through his back was a dagger, the hilt pointed upwards towards the ceiling.


	9. Puppet of the Doom

"A poisoned knife." Jack remarked, holding up the blade for all to see; a piece of white cloth wrapped around the hilt. Prepares for the dead had been called in and a thorough search of the apartment was being conducted by five of Blaze's best soldiers. A lot of bottles and other things on shelves belonging to the deceased magician had been knocked onto the floor. "There wasn't a struggle by the look of it. His death came quick and it was near instantaneous." The large feline added, wrapping the dagger up carefully in the white cloth and placing it in a box held by one of their shoulders. Amy just shuddered.

"Someone knew we were coming." Okida stated glaring down at the body as they prepared to remove. "And silenced Sebastian before we had a chance to question him." The anger brewing in Blaze was more than evident on her face. Her eyes dilating in utter rage, her fangs barred and fists clenching and unclenching at her sides.

"But that's impossible." Amy told him. "We decided only five minutes ago to come and talk to him. Even if someone got wind of that there's no way they could come all the day down here before we did, kill Sebastian and then leave without anyone noticing."

"Someone found a way." The major replied.

"Could it be one of the others magicians, using magic to spy on us and teleport here to kill Sebastian?" Jack asked Blaze, who shook her head.

"None of them could have been spying on us magic any magic I know that much. I made sure my grandfather's study was immune from outside magic. Besides, I can think of no motive for any of them.

"None they made public at any rate." Jack reminded her. Blaze grimaced. He was right. She could not be sure of any of her people's loyalty. Not after this. Okida sighed.

"The only reason someone could have to kill Sebastian was that we were on to 'whatever's going on.'." He looked down at the corpse as the felines began preparing it for removal. "He must have had information they couldn't afford to give out."

"And just who are… 'they'?" Knuckles asked giving Okida sharp glare. "Ok; I'll admit this is a bit suspect, but the way you go on it's as if there's some grand conspiracy going on."

"There very well may be." Void began, rising up from the body. They all remained silent, waiting for him to continue but instead of doing so Void simply floated out the door. "But not of the kind local to either Fellena or Earth." His trailing voice added.

"Oh please don't spoil the surprise on our account." Sonic murmured glaring after him.

"Wait here." Blaze told them all and made after Void. She found him floating down the corridor outside away from the door.

"Now I think I'm beginning to understand what's going on." He told her as she drew level with him. "The… 'Dark One's' …experiment never ended." She blinked in confusion.

"And what draws you to that conclusion?" She asked with a certain amount of surprise in her voice.

"Only a hunch right now." He admitted. "But to be sure I want to take another look at the Arcanum."

"Whatever for?" The feline asked.

"Whatever is going on seems to be rotating around that jewel." He told her. "It's the key to this entire mystery, I'm sure of it." Blaze was silent for a moment.

"And you think that because Sebastian was the overseer of the Arcanum for someone killed him to keep him quiet?"

"More than that if my suspicions are correct." Void replied. "But if they are, then…" He shuddered. "It's something I don't even want to think about at this point." The energy chamber was empty. Most of the felines had been drawn away from their post by the news of the corpse spreading fast.

Void simply floated right up to the giant yellow jewel in place and stared at it. Blaze walked up to the bottom of the metallic pillar and looked up. She was unable to tell exactly what Void was doing but it seemed significant. The glow from the Arcanum increased for a moment before dying away. "I knew it." Void whispered angrily, smacking a fist directly into his open palm. His eyes were wide with both realization and irritation. "Now I think I know what's going on around here."

"What is it?" Blaze called up as he descended down from the Arcanum, pausing at the sight of the angry expression on his face.

"Tell me…" He began without looking at her. "Who told you that this could keep Dragons away?"

"Sebastian the overseer…" Even as the words left her mouth she picked up on what Void was suggestion. "You… you can't be serious!"

"I've never been more so." Void stated crossing his arms in front of himself. "As a ward to keep Dragons away, the Arcanum is utterly useless!" Blaze was left staring at him open mouthed, her gaze darting from him to the Arcanum and back. "It's just a power source Blaze. There's nothing magical about it."

"But…" Blaze found herself unable to leap this mental hurdle. "But that can't be…"

"Oh but it is." Void assured her. "Now I got that close to it, I can sense the Arcanum isn't doing anything to keep the Dragons away from your city."

"But… but what's keeping them away then?" Void fixed her with a grim smile.

"Absolutely nothing." Nothing he was telling her was making sense. What vile conspiracy was going on here? Was nothing she ever believed to be real a truth? She held her hand to her head as her brain began to hurt.

"Then why have they not descended from the skies to burn us alive by now?" That was the one thing she could not understand whatsoever. She had seen entire towns and villages consumed by fire, all accept this city; the only settlement that had the Arcanum present.

"Because they've been told not to." Void replied. "This Dark One you told me about. I have a horrible feeling his experiment is still ongoing. And that the Dragons are not the subject of his testing…" He fixed Blaze with a short glare. "It's you and your people."

"What!" Blaze exclaimed in utter surprise.

"Assemble your magicians and members of court." He told her. "I think I've just about gotten to the bottom of this."

* * *

-

"It was called Project Leap Gate." Apparently Arthur had not had much choice. Espio was not someone to be argued with when he was annoyed. The chameleon had dragged Frank over the side room, tied him up, gagged him and locked him inside.

The gun he had placed on the top of a cabinet, promising only to let Arthur have it when the chameleon made his escape. He needed something to prove Frank was trying to kill him. The police had been called and should there soon. Arthur however was not sure how he was going to explain it to the cops. "Hexagon's been using G.U.N to retrieve technology from various sources for some time now." The human continued, rummaging around through the bottom draw under his deck. "They were able to retrieve bit and pieces from that Armageddon station that blew up about half a year ago." He withdrew a thick file with the word (CONFIDENTIAL) printed on the top. "From one of these pieces, they created Project Leap Gate. I don't know what it does exactly, but from what I do know; it's something they want to keep very badly under wraps."

He handed Espio the folder. The chameleon flipped it open and looked at the folded papers inside. They were instructions for the falling star company about what to publish in their media stations. All mentions of Dragons, government involvement and even speculation of such things were to be removed completely.

"Just why are they keeping all this secret?" Espio asked out load. "I thought they'd be bragging about stuff they come across." Every other time the military developed some new weapon to add to their arsenal they made sure everyone knew about it, to reassure the public and to intimidate their enemies.

"I have no idea." Arthur replied. "I managed to get wind of it through my usual channels in the military and then suddenly Hexagon brought an air tight information lock down." The man looked beat, like he hadn't slept in five days. "I was just about to publish the stores about that Dragon in the Caribbean and Leap Gate. They told me if I did it would be the end of my company."

"Let me guess, even when you killed the story they felt like you were too big a security risk to leave around?" Espio asked looking up.

"I think Frank's enough evidence of that." Arthur replied, running a hand through his tangled hair. "But I can't believe it… Frank. I never would have thought he was capable of trying to shoot his best friend."

"You'll be surprised what some people will do for money." The chameleon remarked back. He shook his head, trying to dislodge the image of Fang's sneering face and the crumpled body of the Armadillo as he laid there, blood slowly spreading out across the floor away from him. Forcing back the painful memory, Espio concentrated on the information in front of him. "Mind if I take this?" He asked, gesturing up with the folder.

"Mind? You'll be doing me a favour!" Arthur replied. "As for me, I'm heading south of the border for a while, growing a large moustache and lying low."

Espio didn't hear him. His eyes had latched onto a name printed on the paper. 'Henry Patterson.' Before he got himself excited, the chameleon checked the details beside it. A hexagon research employee, according to the report here was transferred to work in AREA 99 to work on Leap Gate. A good other few scientists and researchers on Hexagons pay roll had been transferred with him. Their work had to be pretty hazardous as their average salary had been increased several times over to compensate.

Yep, this was the guy alright. This bridged the gap between their dead…mutated…body and Hexagon. But still they had not been able to figure out what the Dragon was all about. Did it have something to do with this 'Leap Gate'? It was a bit too late to take a trip to AREA 99 to take a look at it as the base had been blow to smithereens, the bases destruction was still all over the news.

Still this was better than nothing. Perhaps some of the others had more information by now?

"Yo, Espio; you there?" Vector's voice asked over the com link in the chameleon's ear, causing him to flinch.

"Yeah I'm here Vector." He replied, putting a hand to the small microphone.

"You'd best hi-tail it out of there." The crocodile announced. From across the street in their secluded alleyway, Chaotix could see a couple of squad cars had pulled up outside the Falling Star's entrance. "The cops are here. I think you've been rumbled."

"Don't worry about, they're not after me." Espio assured him, but thought to himself that it was probably best not to be found here. There was something screwy going on and the last thing he needed was to waste time being kept in for questioning. "I've got what we need from here now. I'll meet you back at the apartment."

"Roger that." With that the crocodile's voice was gone. Espio tucked the report under his arm.

"The police should be up in the moment." He told Arthur who was leaning on the deck with his elbows. "Just tell them someone tried to kill you and they should be able to do something. Don't mention anything about Hexagon."

"Hexe-what?" Arthur asked. Espio just nodded, before his outline shimmered. His colours faded away and then his entire body turned invisible.

* * *

-

The amphitheatre was where Blaze assembled the feline's court and their magicians. They filed in and began to take up the seats, all of them puzzled as to why their queen ordered them here. Of course, Sonic and the others had all managed prized seats down at the front. The amphitheatre was large building with an arched ceiling over the stage, the rows of seats leading up to top angled toward towards it. The only entrances were doors leading to corridors on each level. The stage itself was large, flat and oval. In times gone by it had been used for various productions but with the felines culture in such a state it had been abandoned for some time.

Void said nothing. He simply floated there directly in the middle of the stage waiting for everyone to get into position. Sonic noticed that Blaze had her guards stationed at the entrances. Something told him this was going to be interesting.

"Sebastian, the overseer of the Arcanum is dead." Blaze announced to the assembled group. She stood next to Void glaring up at all those present. A low rumble of conversation passed though the air. "Murdered; a poisoned dagger blade driven through his back." The low rumble turned into an appalled row; that quickly died away as the massive form of Jack marched out to join his mistress. "I have been presented with evidence that Sebastian himself was part of a plot to keep out people at the mercy of the Dragon Blood and that some of conspirators may very well be in this room." Blaze continued and an insufferable hush fell over the entire room.

"This is just like a detective film isn't it?" Amy whispered to Sonic, who just nodded. He was anxious to see where this was going. Void was just floating there with his arms crossed, keeping his face emotionless. It was clear he had something planned but just what was it?

"Does this evidence come from him?" One of the court mages asked, standing up and pointing a finger directly at Void.

"As a matter of fact it does." Blaze replied.

"If all due respect your majesty, you believe this scum?" Another asked, tearing his way out of his seat; anger clear on the felines face. "His people left us to die at the hands of the Blood in the first place." A loud roar of agreement resonated through most of those present.

"The crime of my people…" Void began, his voice carrying above them all. "…Will pale in comparison to those of the guilty amongst you." They went utterly. "Some of you, sitting in the chairs above me are in league with the Dark one who unleashed the blood on you." The roar returned, shouts of "preposterous" and "utterly insane" shot down at him.

"Quiet you barking dogs!" Jack shouted up at them, flexing his muscles. They could see them ripple under his fur.

"There are traitors in this theatre and by the end of today, they will be found!" Blaze added. "I believe Void because of evidence shown not only by him, but by friends that brought my servant back to me with no promise of a reward." Sonic was thankful she did not gesture to them. At the moment the last thing he wanted was to be the circle of attention. "Void… the stage is yours." The small imp like being nodded and floated directly to the circle of the amphitheatre. Blaze didn't know what he had planned, but she could tell it was going to be quite revealing.

"Some decades ago, as you are aware, your world was visited by an entity you refer to as the Dark One." Void waited for a moment for someone to shout him down but no one said anything in reply. "After studying the facts, I have come to the conclusion he visited your world for the purpose of using both the creatures he brought with him, and yourselves as subjects in a heinous genetics experiment."

"Thus far you have just recounted our recent history." One of the felines shouted down. Void smiled grimly in response.

"These experiments," He continued. "Did not end with the creation of the Dragon Blood. With everything that has happened, before and after my arrival, I am now convinced that his experiment is on going and there some of your people aiding him." The shouting and disapproval began again but as silenced when Jack opened his mouth and roared at them, showing several one of his sharp teeth. They shrank away like frightened kittens and even Blaze looked a little taken aback by the outburst.

"What a voice." Knuckles commented, apparently unmoved by the roar. Rouge was clinging onto his arms with her fur standing on end.

"As I was saying…" Void continued. "Several of my associates travelled to the location where your history states the Dark One stayed during his presence on your world. Once they got there, they found that any evidence that might be of some use was destroyed by a bomb. According to the foot prints they found, only a feline could have planted it." One of them looked like she was about to argue, but closed her mouth when Jack shot her a glare. "And then, when we deduced someone might be using the Arcanum to get themselves past the Dragons to the craters to plant the bomb; we paid Sebastian a visit. Only to find him dead on the floor of his home."

The gruesome image of the feline lying there with a dagger in his back was all too reminiscent of another, similar, event in Shadow's life and he tried to shake the memory away. But it remained, as plain as day in his minds eye as it always had done. Tikal looked up when she saw the black and red hedgehog grimace.

"All of these events suggest that someone has been watching me and my companions very closely since I arrived." Void continued to the crowd. "Perhaps they feared a Maginaryworld involvement at last; that their master's carefully orchestrated plans were in danger. So they had to hide the evidence from me, anyway they could." He smiled. "And in doing so, alerted me to something odd anyway."

"He gets into the Sherlock role well." Metal Sonic commented in passing. Sonic managed a smirk. No kidding, Void actually looked like he was enjoying himself out there.

"The question is…" Void carried on, now well in swing. "Who? Who had the opportunity to spy on us while we made our plans? Who could possibly be there to listen in?" He coughed to clear his throat. The felines were now all deadly silent, half of them hung on his every word. "At first I thought they were using magic to do it, as your kind can clearly use such a thing, but Blaze informed me our meeting place was immune from outside magic's." Some people at the back were still grumbling that their leader had been so easily swayed by a being from Maginaryworld.

"I was stumped. How could they do all this without the use of magic?" His smile returned in full force. "And then, I had a look at the Arcanum. Acting on a hunch, I took the time to examine the jewel more closely and discovered something quite startling." He paused to glance up around to see how many people were paying attention. Even the trouble makers at the back were now watching, waiting for him to continue. "The Dragons do not keep away from your city because of the presence of the Arcanum." He stated to them receiving a few startled reaction. "Is it's simply a power source. The Dragons stay away from the city, because they are told to by their master, who does not want his agents to be consumed." Sonic and Amy shot each other a startled glance as the felines began talking amongst themselves again.

One of them stood up sharply and jabbed a claw at Void.

"That is blasphemy! I demand this heretic be cast out at once!" More joined him in his proclamation of denial.

"ENOUGH!" Blaze shouted at them, forcing them all to be quiet. "You will listen to what he has to say, or I will feed you to the Dragons myself!" Everyone, Sonic and the others included, went deathly quiet.

"And then the pieces started coming together." Void continued as if there hadn't been any outburst. "The Arcanum was never what kept the Dragons away from you, so it would never be needed for the Dark ones agents to leave the city. So they could have left at any time they wished." He smiled grimly. "It also explains how they were able to listen in on our meetings." Slowly Void turned to face Jack. "You." The large feline and many others looked utterly startled.

"Pardon?" He asked.

"You where there Jack, each and every time we made any decision. Through you, they were able to spy on us."

"Are you accusing me of treason?" Jack asked, taking so much offence he was hissing through his clamped fangs. Void just shook his head.

"No. Not you directly. You are a mere pawn in this game." He assured him. "Blaze, you told me that our meeting place was immune to outside magic." The feline queen nodded once.

"Yes that's right."

"Well then. How about magic from the inside?" Void raised his hand and gently laid the palm against Jack's head. Suddenly, fading into existence a thread of light appeared; one end attached to Jack's ear and the other fading away to nothing through the air.

"What in the name of!" Jack proclaimed, clearly surprised to see this attached to him.

"This is the line through which the guilty party listened in." Void replied calmly. "They wield powerful magic, strong enough to fool the best magicians into thinking the Arcanum had any worth. Through this, you were their eyes and ears and since the magic was already on the inside of Blaze's study, its ward protection could not prevent it sending back secrets." This time Blaze did nothing to disturb the murmur of conversation that spread throughout the amphitheatre. "And with this, we call reveal the feline who sold you out to the Dark One!" Void let his hand move along the thread as he did so, more of it revealed itself to him; moving along the thread he found himself moving closer and closer towards the audience.

Suddenly he drew his arm back and then threw it forward; the entire thread revealing itself with one sudden burst. Within a moment, the link between Jack and a feline sitting in the audience was revealed. He was hiding his face behind a wrap that covered his face up to his nose.

"Damn you!" The feline snarled, leaping from his seat and bolting for the door.

"Stop him!" Blaze ordered and instantly the warriors she had placed around the exits armed themselves, half their number moving to interrupt the runaway while the others kept the exits blocked.

Showing surprising agility and strength, the masked feline tore his way through the guards as he came at him one by one. Knocking them aside he bolted for the entrance.

Amy tossed her hammer at the last moment at him, the shaft of the long handle tangling his legs. Loosing his balance, the feline tripped over and fell to the ground with a crashing thud.

Sonic and Shadow were on him in an instant, pinning his arms behind him. But the feline had more tricks up his sleeve, raising his hand; he cast a bolt of magic at them; the energy crackling through both hedgehogs and throwing them back sharply into the guards as they charged.

With a clear path to the exit, the feline made a break for it; only to find his way barred by Metal Sonic and Knuckles. The two of them were standing there with their arms crossed, annoyed expressions on their faces. At the same time, they grabbed his arms and with their renowned strength tossed him straight back into the middle of the amphitheatre, sliding to a stop at Blaze's feet.

She stamped down on his hands before he could fire off another spell and then roughly tore the wrapping off his face.

"Sebastian!" Jack stared in utter disbelief.

Sonic and Shadow picked themselves up and stared, neither of them unable to explain how this was possible. They had both seen his dead body only a few hours ago, yet here he was; alive and well.

"Faked his own death to throw us off the trail." Void remarked folding his arms. "I occurred to me; one with strong enough magic to fool the magicians of the court into thinking the Arcanum was worth anything as a Dragon ward ought to be able to so something in the way of that illusion."

"Illusion?" Amy asked. By now half the audience had gathered in the centre of the ring to stare in wonder as Jack held the struggling Sebastian, the one they'd been told was dead, in place with his large hands. "You mean that dead body was an illusion?"

"A very good illusion." Void remarked. "He was probably preparing to disguise himself and take on another role and use that to continue his watch on the felines; to keep them in their pens."

"Pens?" One of the felines asked in surprise.

"What would you call this city if not a giant pen?" Void asked in response, gesturing up and around him. "The Dark one engineered this entire situation just to get your people cooped here where you're controlled and easy to experiment on." He turned to give Sebastian a glare. "And all with the help of this one." Blaze snarled angrily and grabbed Sebastian by the throat.

"Why, Sebastian? Why help that which imprisons our people?" Sebastian himself said nothing, his eyes kept straight at her; before he reared his head back despite her fingers around his neck and laughed.

"You foolish child!" He laughed. "You haven't the faintest clue what you've stumbled onto." His eyes seemed alight with a strange madness, lips spread in a sneer. "The time of reckoning is almost upon us."

"Spill it pal." Sonic began. "Who you working for?"

"Oh Shadow, you and your lackeys are persistent aren't you?" Their watcher asked, all three glowing orange eyes narrowing. Certainly this was an unforeseen problem. They were a mere stones throw away from discovering the entire plan and if they did it would all be for nothing.

They had forced his hand.

"Very well. You have earned a preview of my power." He raised his cloven hand and the two large fingers and talon like thumb began to adopt a glowing yellow outline, arching out and twitching as energy began surging through it. "Rise up my great beasts, rise up and destroy in the name of Black Doom!"

Sensing the will of their master, the Dragons rose up in force. For miles around the floating island, they flew up into the air like a swarm of locusts. Hundreds of them rising in tight formation; a regatta of wings; starved for weeks; now let loose. The possibly of a feast driving them one, they surged towards the city.

Down on the ground, Doctor Eggman watched them ignore his crashed ship and head off towards the horizon. The Egg Carrier 4 was still not repaired enough to get itself off the ground and its weapons systems were malfunctioning. For a brief moment, when he saw the creatures that barrages his ship when he arrived here sudden surge into the sky, Eggman thought he was a goner.

But they did not seem interested in him. As if he didn't exist they carried on past the Egg Carrier and off towards some other target.

"Now just where are they off to?" He asked himself, their shadows casting darkness over the ground as they passed by. At this point, intelligence was required. The automated defences and shield were now back online, so the Doctor was no longer in need of a bodyguard. The newly reactivated robot would serve him far better as a scout. "Gamma!" Summoned to his masters side; E102 stomped out of the darkness of the hanger bay, lighting not yet restored to the entire vessel. "Go, recon activity. Do not alert them to our presence." The doctor announced; gesturing up at the armada of flying lizards crossing overhead.

The robotic solider saluted, bringing the rifle attached to its arm above the round green optics of its eyes.

The glass dome shook violently as Dragons tooth and claws began tearing away at it, fragments of material spraying out under the relentless attack. Those leading the charge reared their heads back before showing the surface with burning chemicals. To the city inside, it appeared as if the sky was on fire; about to break open and release a horde of demons on them.

"The city is under attack mistress!" Jack cried out as the ground beneath their feet began shaking like an earthquake. Even from here they could hear the roars of the dragons, starved for so long they were utterly desperate to break through.

"I have failed the master." Sebastian sighed, leaning back into the large felines grip. "He comes now to cleanse the failed experiment. All will be consumed by the fires of his wrath before the day is out."

"Not before you." Jack snarled in his face. Sebastian just laughed again.

"The gates will soon be open and through them will come your end!" The ground shook like never before and a loud thud rang out from nearby, following by loud screams.

"The Dragons have breeched the city!" Someone cried out, only to find he was stated the obvious as a large scaly head the size of a truck came crashing through the roof, jaws opened wide.


	10. Ragnarok, pt1

Dropping Sebastian instantly, Jack threw himself to the side as a row of teeth came charging down at them. The feline traitor just dropped to the floor and made no attempt to run as the Dragon's mouth opened wide and he was greeted by a torrent of surging fire. Instead, he laughed insanely and with zeal before the flames tore his body to ash and the jaws clamped over him. Brick and splinters of wood went flying as the winged beast tore its way down through the roof, snapping at anything that tired to pass by. The felines were now running for the lives, desperately trying to make it to the exits at the edge of the amphitheatre.

"Sonic Wind!" The blue hedgehog cupped both hands behind him and began focusing the chaos energy abundant within him. Once it had been focused to a single point, he threw his arms forward and a shockwave hit the air. A swirling vortex of a blue energy arched forward and struck the dragon full in the face, forcing it back up through the ceiling with a painful shriek.

"Get everybody out of here NOW!" Blaze called to her guards who were already assisting those who hadn't poured out through the exit's to do so.

Metal Sonic flew up through the gaping hole in the roof to peer across the city skyline and found it completely ablaze. The city was nearly completely engulfed in fire, more flames being poured down as the winged lizards soured overhead in formation; dropping the deadly burning chemicals like bomber craft. The air was thick with the searing heat and the sounds of screams. While the robotic hedgehog cared little for the plight of organic beings, Metal Sonic's patience had been now been tried. He was eager to finish this business and he could not tolerate this present attack. With a loud metal clang he clasped his hands together and arched them back out, lightning bolts trailing from the tip of each finger.

Metal Sonic's body contained millions of small self replicating robots called nano-bots. They not only helped him fix physical damage to his body, but they gave him the ability to asses' enemy tactics and attacks to not only copy them, but to improve on the original. Some time ago, Sonic had been forced to use a Sonic Wing attack against his metallic counterpart and Metal Sonic had had time to develop on the technique. The energy discharge was a refined charged particle weapon that worked in a similar way to Sonic's attack but instead of being fired in single direction, it was a force that burned in a 360 degree arc.

Several compartments opened on the robotic hedgehog's body and large chrome panels emerged; each one glowing bright neon blue before the discharge shot out in all directions.

Their flesh burnt more than their flames could ever hope to, the dragons fell from the sky trailing smoke; their flesh cooked crisp before they slammed into the ground one after the other. Despite those that fell however, more took their place. A huge hole had been carved in the top of the giant glass dome and uncountable numbers of winged reptiles were flooding inside. Unfortunately Metal Sonic's particle discharge was not something he could fire off multiple times and he hadn't half the time necessary to charge up enough energy for second wave before the Dragons came souring at them. Leaping to the side to avoid being roasted, his cape got caught in the flames and was burnt to cinders in seconds.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow emerged out of a Chaos Control warp already with his infamous energy attack burning between his fingers. The bolts shot out and one by one slammed into the chests of the dragons, throwing them back several feet before they fell ungracefully to the ground. Sonic soured up the side of the building at break neck speed and once his foot toughed the top, somersaulted backwards into the air and used the momentum to go into a spin dash. His body spinning around, he coursed forward and tore his way though a Dragon's body; ripping out it's insides before blasting out the far side.

Using the dying body as a spring board, he threw himself up towards another flying lizard other head. Throwing a kick forward, he broke its neck on the first strike and as it fell to ground, used the air drag from its wings to keep himself air born long enough to launch an attack on another set flying below. "Damn it, they're everywhere!" Rouge hissed, her wings flapping widely to keep her head of the multitudes of snapping jaws.

Well timed kicks to the sides of their heads sent them down by no matter how many they sent crashing down; another hundred seemed to take their place. Okida came souring up with his large wings spread wide, a pair of double barrelled shot guns in his hands. As a gunslinger, Okida was unmatched.

His bullets shot forward and even before they hit their targets, Okida was wishing he'd had the foresight to have brought a Mech with him. The precise shots brought three down, but another five soured right over them to take up the fight. Amy and Knuckles were the last to charge out but there was plenty of action left for them. The echidna's fists saved a young feline as a dragon soured down with claws outstretched to snatch her away.

Grabbing the reptile's tail as it soured past, Knuckles tossed it violently back into the side of a building allowing the cats enough time to make a run for it. Amy Rose's hammer was a spinning deadly cyclone. Her movements done with such acrobatic grave she almost seemed to be dancing, twirling her body around so fast her hammer cracked a Dragon's skull three times in the space of a single second. Bringing her blunt weapon up hard, the pink hedgehog smashed it straight into the underside of a reptiles jaw before swinging it sharply to the side; breaking the wing bone of one of the flying beasts and as it staggered towards the ground smashed it's head in.

"To hell with this! There are too many of them!" Shadow murmured; his back up against Sonic's as the two of them stood on the top of a tall building with Dragons souring at them from apparently all directions.

"Every Dragon on Fellena must be here!" Was Jack's observation as he and Blaze fought their out into the streets, battling with the winged giants as they landed on the ground. Magic, arrows and sword blades helped them fight against the searing heat. The smell of cooking flesh was pungent in the air, burnt corpses lying on ground where they fell.

"You are hopelessly outnumbered." Void told Blaze, souring alongside her; his own sabre appearing in his hand at the flick of a wrist. "You have to get your people out of here. I and my companions will try to hold them off for as long as we can!" Blaze shot her eyes to the side, her teeth barred.

"No. I will not abandon my city."

"Your city has already fallen." Void told her giving the feline a side glance. "Do not let your people fall with it." Blaze shunned the world and closed her eyes, thick emotions of anger; frustrations and overwhelming grief swirled around her, but then were washed away by the obligations to duty she had been raised to honour.

"Fall back!" She ordered to her soldiers as Void soured on. "Bring as many people as you can back inside the fortress walls and brace the doors with magic." Jack shot her a glare. "That's an order." With a great amount of reluctant showing in both his face and in the way he moved, Jack signalled to the others.

"Evacuate the people. MOVE IT!" By now, they were all completely surrounded. With loud thuds that shook the ground, the dragons landed by one, forming a tight circle around them. A multitude of their dead lay around them, and starving some of the still living Dragons bent their necks to tear thick chunks of meet of the corpses. All of them were out of breath, with the acceptation being Metal Sonic as he didn't breath. Scorch marks lanced over their body from close calls with the deadly torrents of fire.

"Any thoughts?" Okida asked, taking the momentary break in the action to reload the bullets into his handgun. Parts of his clothes had been seared by the flames and his fur hadn't done much better.

"I could do with a cheeseburger." Sonic remarked, forcing a smile. Amy just smacked him on the back of the head.

"Now might not be the best time to mention food." Rouge added in, glancing around at the unending sea of hungry mouths full of sharp teeth ready to tear them apart. Several loud shots rang out and two dragons turned just in time to get a round of laser fire full in the face. Their kind next to them; startled by the sudden event started screeching and flew up into the air. Sliding out of the smoke and dust in the air came a mechanized, egg shaped form; its long right arm raised up into the air and from a rifle attached instead of a hand was firing a thick succession of blasts, forcing the Dragons away.

"Omega?" Okida began with a startled expression.

"No." Amy replied, lowering her hammer a little. "I know this one." With the wheels at the back of his large flat feet grinding to a halt, E102: Gamma slid to a complete stop a short distance away.

"Another of Eggman's toys?" Shadow asked clenching a fist, but keeping his eyes on the real, scaly threat around them.

"An old E100 unit." Metal Sonic replied, unclasping the brooch that held the remains of his cape on, letting the scorched remains fall away. "I didn't think he was still using those old relics."

"Can we discuss this later?" Okida asked, looking around as the Dragons seemed to have removed from the sudden intrusion and their hunger was pushing them on.

It looked for a moment as they were all about to be swallowed up by a sea of snarling teeth, when suddenly a loud roar piercing the air, so loud it literally shook the ground beneath their feet. The dragons howled and took to the air in a dazzling show of wings, leaving their wounded behind; all of them flying as fast as they could towards the hole in the top of the dome, scrambling over reach other in a desperate attempt to flee.

"Well that was easy." Sonic remarked, lowering his hands with a puzzled look on his face.

"Did we scare them off?" Knuckles asked, but even as it came out of his mouth it sounded stupid Those Dragons had had them outnumbered twenty to one. There was no way with the odds against them like that they would have intimidated their opponents into running away.

"Oh get real." Shadow replied with a short snarl. By now, the last Dragon had cleared the hole and had disappeared into the sky, the fleet of wings disappearing on the horizon. Everything went very silent. None of them moved a muscle, the thudding of the hearts in their chests more than making up in noise for the missing snarls and roars.  
"Seriously bad vibes I'm getting' here." Rouge added, her ears twitching nervously. It happened so gradually, no body noticed the encroaching darkness until the light around them had almost gone completely.

"Gets dark here early," Okida remarked with a short smile trying to lessen the tension in the air, but only served in elevating it. Glancing up, Sonic watched as something with colossal size moved itself in front of the red sun. It was too far away to see what it was from here but whatever it was; it had to rival the size of the Egg Carrier itself.

"What the heck is that?" Amy asked, putting a hand over her brow and glancing up at it with a frown. The suddenly it all became clear.

"You have to be kidding me…" Sonic began with a stunned expression as a giant eye slid open, the pupil contracting to a reptilian style silt. A gigantic head that cast a shadow over the city reared itself up, blocking out the giant red sun with a near complete eclipse. The Dragon was huge. Its head had to be as long as Eggman's ship and as wide as the Blue Typhoon.

Its long neck stretched over three times that distance and the body had a bulk so massive they couldn't see it all. A pair of wings that blanketed the sky were folded either side, a massive claw on the tip capable of carving a city street apart twitched back and forth. The scales were unlike those of the other dragons. A sea of jet black flew down the body, with streaks of crimson red running down either side of its neck and out along the wings.

Slow at first, he raised its wings and spread them out then with a sudden surging movement threw them out as wide as they would go and tore its head back, screeching as its jaws threw themselves open.

The sound was utterly deafening. Those who weren't robots had to cover their ears; the acute pitch of it was painful. The ground shook like never before, cracks tearing open in the ground. Finally, the pitch was so perfect that the entire glass dome above them cracked to pieces. It fell apart above them and became deadly falling glass rain, jagged shards crashing down, some as larger as the buildings and others barely the size of a finger.

It was an utter miracle Metal Sonic acted quickly enough by throwing a force field up around them all, the shards simply bouncing off the protective barrier.

"Why is it always us?" Knuckles asked as the colossal beast put a foot the side of a city block inside the shattered remains of the dome.

"Yes my creature." Black Doom whispered to his giant as it crushed the feline's buildings beneath its feet, the sheer size of its wing span eclipsing the sky. "I have denied you fresh meet for too long. Destroy the felines and reduce this entire island to ashes." More than happy to oblige its master, the beast trampled its way across the stretch of burning city.

-  
From the towering citadel at the heart of the city itself, Blaze watched in utter exclamation as the Dragon Lord made his presence known at last. For a long time now there had been stories of a dragon who ruled above all others, their king and overlord; the first warped creation of the Dark one.

A gargantuan creation made for the soul purpose of destruction. As if the buildings were like nothing by dirt beneath it's fleet, it clawed along over them crushing their homes beneath its colossal belly. The arched wings acting as front legs with the tips stretched out behind it. It's black and red body moved like a snake, sliding through the burning rubble towards the feline's last defensive line. Blaze watched from the battlements of the tower, a collection of her soldiers around her. They watched as their doom slowly crawled towards them, jaws capable of devouring an entire Mythology told of a vicious serpent that on the upon the ending of the world would come to consume all before it. The apocalypse incarnate. This was that lizard.

"The Ragnarok." She breathed; eyes wide in terror.

"There's no magic in the world that will keep that thing away." Jack remarked, for the first time Blaze beheld her right hand man as stunned as the rest of them. "What do we do mistress?" Blaze did not answer him, could not answer him.

"Mistress?" Another solider asked. Looking up, she saw the fear in his eyes. The same was reflected in the faces around her, unrivalled terror etched into every facial muscle.  
"Gather our family and friends and take them to the Arcanum chamber." She announced, turning to keep the colossal beast in front of her. "Go swiftly. Jack…" The large feline looked up expectedly. "Guard them with your life." Trailing her hand out to the side, the glow from the jewel atop her head glowed brightly and her sword flew out of its sheath by itself and the hilt resting gently in her palm. Now armed, the feline leapt from atop the battlements and began to slide down the tower using the momentum to keep herself from falling.

"I got out of bed in the morning for this?" Sonic remarked, before they broke apart to avoid being squashed by a giant foot as the shadow of the beast fell over them. The black dragon ignored, carrying on as if they were nothing but insects on the ground. Its real prize, the only part of the feline city untouched by the flames, stood towering before it. The ground shook under each foot print.

"Chaos Spear!" Shadow called out, casting the golden bolts. They made such a small impact across the dragon's giant armoured hide it didn't even feel them. It marched on, unhindered. Gamma raised his laser rifle and fired several laser blasts at once directly up as the belly of the giant reptile soured overhead. They didn't even scratch the surface.   
"Try ignoring this ugly!" Sonic declared, before spinning his entire body around on a single spot; energy building as the quills spun faster and faster. Rocketing forward with a loud sonic boom the blue hedgehog slammed hard as he could into the back of its hind leg. The dragon felt it this time and shuddered slightly.

The attack seemed to irritate more than hurt and all the beast had to do was bring its colossal tail around sharply and Sonic was sent flying backwards to crash through a wall and vanish into an engulfing cloud of brick dust. Okida's bullets didn't do a thing and the combined attacks of both Knuckles and Rouge only seemed to make it angry. Metal Sonic soured through the melee and latched onto the frill adorning the creatures head and anchored himself down.

The compartments housing the particle discharge weapon all opened at once and the robotic hedgehog began to glow neon blue as he pumped more and more energy from his systems into the single burst. The dragon could see the weight just over its eyes and violently shook its long neck trying to tear the object off itself. Its efforts were too little too late. Metal Sonic's charged particle burst rocketed out in a ball of blue light that engulfed the giant's entire head.  
The beast collapsed to the ground, smoke trailing after it. Metal Sonic himself having put as much energy as he could muster into that one burst, fell to the ground with a ground with a rough tumble, bending one of his arms badly out of position in the process. "Alright Metal you did…." Was Sonic's began in praise as he picked himself out rubble; only to find that the dragon was also picking itself back up, shaking the dust and mortar out of its scales before spreading its wings out wide.

Apparently all Metal Sonic had succeeded in doing was getting its attention and making it mad. Smoke rose out through its nostrils with an angry hissing. As if it were going to throw out burning chemicals like its smaller kin, it drew its long neck back and held its head high in the air. Instead of throwing fire forward, several gill like holes on the outside edge of its neck opened up, one by one snapping out. Particles in the air around it began charging, each one glowing bright blood red before being drawn through the gills.

The red streaks along the body began to glow, the light from beneath the scales increasing every moment. Shafts of light lanced out in succession from behind the closed teeth.

"Everyone down!" Okida exclaimed, throwing himself to the ground. Following his lead almost instinctively, the others did the same. Throwing its neck down and forward, the beast opened its mouth and as if released from behind a flood gate came a thick blast of charged particles focused into a devastating attack. It burned the air around, glowing an intense red. The ground was torn up as it shot forward, reducing entire city blocks to dust in a single moment.

Carrying on past the city, it tore a giant hole in what was left of the glass dome, tore the trees out of the ground beyond that and shook the entire flying island. The smaller dragons waiting on the outskirts to see what was happening had to fly like they'd never flown before to avoid being hit. Some weren't fast enough and didn't have enough time to screech before vanishing forever.

Eggman watched in amazement as the shot passed over his Egg Carrier, quickly followed by a loud sonic boom, the sound vibrations shaking the ground beneath his feet. His mug labelled; 'worlds greatest genius'; was jarred from his fingers and broke open on the floor spilling coffee everywhere.

"What in the name of…" He began, watching the energy above him burn before it began to shrink, the beam becoming smaller and smaller before vanishing complete, leaving a thin trailing of glowing red points in the air that one by one vanishing like snowflakes.

"Doctor, what was that?" Becoe asked, watching after it in awe. The Doctor forged a frown and pushed his glasses up off his nose. That blast had been like an attack from his own Egg Carrier's cannon.

"I don't know…" He advanced over to the console at the wall and pressed a button. "Gamma, report." The only reply was intense static. "E102: report!" Still nothing. The unit was out of range of the damaged com-system.

"That's it. I'm taking the Egg Carrier up to investigate myself."

"But Doctor, the repairs aren't complete yet." The robot argued but he could tell his master wasn't listening.

"The engines are working aren't they?" Eggman asked, dragging the goggles on his forehead over his glasses.

"And the weapons systems."

"Then take us up." The order was final, that much was obvious in an instant.

"Doctor, if we get hit by a blast like that we won't stand a chance." Eggman paused for a moment. Of that fact, he was more than aware

.  
"We just won't get hit then."

The blue hedgehog hoisted himself out of the brick dust now covering them all and watched in utter amazement and horror at the devastation around him. He was now sitting before a gorge carved into the city, through into the jungle beyond and out to the very edge of the island itself.

"You have to be yanking my chain!" Sonic exclaimed as the others sat up themselves. The gills lining the dragon's neck snapped shut all at once, restricting the flow of the smoke from within so instead it channelled out through the mouth. Deciding it had made its point to the irritations, it turned around to face its true quarry. It could easily vaporise the felines in an instant but it was hungry enough as it was and reducing their molecules to nothing would deny him the chance to feed.

"That was a charged particle blast." Okida announced, hoisting himself back up. He had used his large wings to shield Knuckles, Amy and himself from falling mortar. "But that's impossible! Charging particles requires hyper matter. A living creature can't charge develop that."

Metal Sonic tossed a fallen wall off his body and stood up. His arm had been mangled and was now utterly useless. Holding it upright, he focused his attention on the nano-bots inside his body. He barley had enough energy left to get them moving.  
His metallic armour rippled like the surface of water, before parts of it liquefied completely and moved spreading up along his arm; repairing the damage as it went. Once the metallic limb was as good as new, the liquid metal moved part into place and hardened.

"I'm detecting traces of hyper matter inside a protective bladder inside the creature's chest cavity." He announced, his eyes glowing blood red. "It was channelling that up through channels in its throat where the particles charged enough for it to fire." Shadow growled angrily in response, shaking himself several times to dislodge the dust from between his quills.

"That's almost exactly how the Eclipse Cannon works."

"Great, just great." Sonic sounded irritated. "Now we've gotta stop a giant dragon armed with a mini Eclipse Cannon." Exactly how they were going to do that Sonic had no idea. Some of their best attack hadn't even slowed it down, and Metal Sonic's show stopper blast had only succeeded in annoying the beast. "What I wouldn't give for a Chaos Emerald right now." Well if annoying it was the best they could do, they were going to be one hell of an annoyance.

Racing forward, Sonic shot through the charred rubble; dodging between the blackened remaining of buildings before he caught up with the winged giant. Darting up along its tail, the blue hedgehog raced along until he reached the point between the wings.

As this creature was about a size of a quarter of the city itself, the width of its shoulder was well two blocks wide. Its shoulder blades connected here and if there was ever a most irritated place to get an itch, this was it. Reaching the exact middle, Sonic started spinning around on the spot; going faster and fist, his quills tearing into the scales. It was by no means enough to hurt the dragon, but it did make it very uncomfortable.

The blue hedgehog was drilling on the top of a collection of nerves responsibly for the control of the wings and they were sending back powerful messages of irritation. The dragon staggered back, trying to bend its neck to swat the hedgehog away; but the position on its back was just out of reach. Sonic kept going, trying the beast to distraction. Swinging its tail back and forth, it knocked buildings over and left huge gorges in the ground. "Ride 'em cowboy!" Sonic called out as the dragon kicked back its hind legs. Sonic had succeeded in annoying it. Now it was fuming with rage. It had been content to let these irritants go as long as it got its meal. Not so anymore. With a sickening snap, each gill on its neck opened up and red points of light began being drawn in through each one. This was the precise moment Shadow had been waiting for.  
"Hold him right there Sonic!" Shadow called over, dragging a hand back by his side and clenching the fist. Skating forward, the black and red hedgehog began building up whatever internal energy he had left. This was only attack he hadn't tried yet and he knew it was going to require a lot of effort on his part. "Chaos…." He began, his outline starting to burn bright blood red. The dragon was too distracted with Sonic on its back and charging its weapon to notice the approaching danger. "BLAST!" By the time the beast did notice the red glow it was too late, Shadow had slammed a punch straight into its colossal chest.

The unleashed attack Shadow had put every ounce of energy he could muster into it and it left him more drained than he'd ever been in his life. Shockwaves crashed through the air knocking over whatever buildings were left standing. The attack, coupled with the charging particles produced a devastated blast that pushed up and out like a mushroom cloud. The dragon vanished for an instant in a red haze, before it was seen flying backwards to crash across the ruined city.

Rubble collected on top of the beast and it vanished beneath the dust and ruins. Sonic reappeared out of the Chaos Control warp he had escaped in to avoid the attack. He staggered about for the minute, knocked a little dizzy by the inertia.

"Oh I'm taking a bath on this." He muttered, shaking himself to restore feeling to his numb skin.

The ground began to shake as if a thousand jack hammers had been taken to it as a long jet black neck began to heave itself out of the ground, trailing shards of rubble and clouds of brick dust. "Oh now this is just not fair." The blue hedgehog commented, his arms falling to his sides as a pair of massive wings spread out after it, breaking open the ground as they did so.

There was a brief flash of light nearby and Shadow repapered. The black and red hedgehog stood staring up at the dragon for a moment, before whatever was holding him up gave way and he collapsed to the floor.

"Shadow!" Tikal cried racing over. The ultimate life-form was barely conscious, his eyes closed and struggling for breath. He was almost completely drained of energy; whatever had been able to amass had been forced into that one attack.

"I….I can't get up." He managed to breath. "Sorry. You'll have to fight this one without me." With that he collapsed completely, his eyes falling shut with him tumbling into unconsciousness.

"Shadow… come on Shadow napping right now is not a good idea!" Okida began, trying to shake him awake but the kind of Sleep Shadow had fallen into was not one someone woke up from lightly. "Out cold." The major added, before glancing up as a towering shadow fell over them.

The dragon was now more than annoyed. All they had succeeded in doing was irritating it beyond belief and now it was angry. Apparently these creatures were far too stupid to get the message that compared to the beast they were insects. With a loud snap it spread its wings out as far as they would stretch, shadowing half the city in their shadow. The red streaks on the leathery outside edge began to glow brightly as they absorbed the warmth from the sunlight.

The gills lining its throat snapped wide open and the particles in the air began to charge again, becoming bright red orbs of light that one by one began to get sucked in through the holes and into the throat itself. Shafts of light began to lance through the gaps in the razor sharp teeth as power began to accumulate.

"How does it keep doing that?" Amy demanded. "It's like Krish all over again."

"How can any creature be that powerful?" Rouge was next to ask, stating the question on everyone's mind.

"It's not, that's the answer." Metal Sonic replied, his eyes glowing blood red; the scanner in his optics working. "The hyper matter inside its gut is what makes it pack a wallop. See those wings?" He jabbed up with a talon to the spread limbs that one would have to be completely blind to miss. The glow read streaks had spread across the wings and down the side of the neck. "It's channelling the thermal energy from the sunlight and using it as a catalyst to ignite the hyper matter and the charged particles."

"So that's it little secret." Sonic began. He had no idea what Metal Sonic had just said but at least they were getting somewhere. At the moment it seemed the beast was about to hit them with enough charged particles to reduce the entire island to cinders. Shadow must have made it real mad. "Think you can come up with a plan to stop it in the next 30 seconds? 'Cause that's how long it'll be until it fires."

"We have to pierce the gland that producing the hyper matter." Okida answered for him. "Once exposed to the air, hyper matter ignites rapidly. The way that things been firing off charged particle blasts, there's got to be enough hyper matter in there to fill a pool."

Suddenly a loud shot rang out, before the dragon could fire its own blast. An energy shot came directly from behind and struck it between the gasp on its wings, forcing them to close rapidly. Without the sunlight to help charge the particles within the beast was forced to fire the attack premature, the result being it missed Sonic and the others completely and carved through the ground sending dust clouds into the air.

"Fire missiles!" Doctor Eggman proclaimed; jabbing a finger forward as the Egg Carrier's cannon began to close, lightning sparking around the need inside. Half of the turrets on both the underside of the ship and along the colossal wings rose up and rotated their barrels around to aim directly at the dragon as it turned around to face this new threat.

"Nice decoy." Sonic remarked. As long as that thing took it's frustrations out on Eggman and not them he was happy enough. "Just where is that gland? I'll slam a spin dash right through it!"

"I doubt it." Metal Sonic stated with his scan of the dragon already complete. "It's just below the heart, near the hip. The scales around its middle are thickest of all. You'll never punch a hole through those."

"I can try." The blue hedgehog replied, smacking a fist into his open palm.

Eggman didn't know what this creature was, but if it could generate a charged particle beam that made it a significant threat and the Doctor was not in the habit of simply ignoring those. This beast had to be destroyed. Explosions rang out across its body as one by one the missiles impacted on the scaly skin, forcing it back through the burning ruins of the city below.

"The missiles aren't having much effect Doctor." His golden hence-bot told him, reporting flashing up on the main screen to show that the hard scales were like anti-artillery armour; absorbing the shockwaves from the missile impacts. The only thing the barrage seemed to be doing was forcing the creature to back up.

"They don't have to." Eggman replied. "How much longer until our main cannon is recharged?" There was little that could withstand a direct attack from the Egg Carrier's main hyper matter cannon. It was, after all, based on Prof. Gerald's own Eclipse Cannon design. Then again if the Dragon was allowed the time to charge up its own main weapon they would be sitting ducks.

"Another two minutes Doctor." Becoe replied. "But we'll run out of missiles before then." The percentages of the ammunition supplies were dropping rapidly. At this rate their entire missile supply would be exhausted in just over a minute and a half. All the dragon needed was the extra thirty seconds to blast them out of the sky.

"Dispatch the Flight-adapted Dreadnaughts." The doctor commanded. He'd been attempting to re-equip his land based robots for use in the air based combat for some time now.

"But Doctor, the range is still is BETA testing." Both robots reminded him at once.

"If I can't design a robot that lasts more than thirty seconds I'm hanging too belt." Eggman replied. "Have them readied for launch and dispatched as soon as we run out of missiles."

"Yes Doctor."

In the hanger bays lining the underside of the Carrier, the Dreadnaughts robots assembled responding to the call to action. Once at the launch point they were equip by other robots with attachments to their backs that once welded in place, produced to plane like wings either side that fitted onto the outstretched metallic arms perfectly.

"All unit, prepare to assault drop." The Doctor's voice announced through the intercom system. "Stand by on my command. Gamma…" The E100 unit stood almost rigidly to attention as the voice of his creator began to hum through his internal speaker. "My forces are about to be deployed. You will lead the assault against the creature. You are to occupy its attention for a single minute to give me time to recharge my cannon."

"Roger." Gamma's mechanized voice replied, before he dropped down into mobile mode and raced off.

With her sword blade in hand, Blaze darted through the ruined streets towards the giant in the distance. This was all her fault. As a leader, it was her duty to keep her people safe from harm. She had failed dismally, half the population of the felines had already been reduced to smouldering piles of ash. The stench of burning flesh was thick in the air.

More than that, she had let herself be fooled into thinking that all her life she had been helping her people escape the Dark One, when in reality she had simply been a puppet. She had kept them cooped up here in this city, believing with a zeal that by doing so she was ensuring their safety. Nothing could have been further from the truth.

Everything Sebastian had ever told her had been a lie. A script given to him to say by the Dark One; and she had believed every word. A deep self loathing was writhing within her, burning like a forest fire ignited by her stupidity.

She could still remember the day her father left control of the city and the charge of the feline throne. He had died fighting the dragons, never knowing he had been used as a pawn in a game; an insignificant part of an experiment. A role he was passing onto his daughter, along with the mistaken belief that she mattered.

Nothing she had ever done, or could have done would have saved her people. They had been doomed from the moment the Dark One arrived.

"I thought I told you to pull back to the fortress?" Void asked as she drew level with him. He had been attempting to call Maginaryworld to ask them for assistance but something was cloaking his telepathic communication. Apparently this 'Dark One' had dimensional powers stronger than his own and, as he had anticipated; had been watching them from the moment of their arrival.

Now Void knew the Dark One considered them a security risk of sorts and this dragon attack was his way of destroying whatever criminating evidence had been left. With everything incinerated around him, there was probably nothing left to tell them their new enemy's identity or anything about the nature of his experimentation.

"This is my fight and my enemy." Blaze replied without glancing at him. The two of them darted through the crumbling and burning buildings, the feline moving with acrobatic grace through the collapsed rubble and Void slipping through the air as if he was swimming. "This is what I have been fighting against my whole life." With a wrench, she tore the small red jewel from her forehead. How could she have been so stupid to believe this had had any worth?

She and her people had been so desperate to believe in something during the rise of the blood they had played right into the Dark One's hands. Angrily, she crushed the gem stone between her fingers and let the red dust fall away. "And I'll be damned if I intend to stop now."

Void was silent for a moment, before a brief smile crossed his face.

"Then let's save your people." He stated, wielding his sabre in one hand before flying on.


	11. Ragnarok, pt2

"Ok guys, pooling data time." Vector announced, throwing everyone order their way, the bags opening as they slid across the table to a stop. Charmy was into his bag even before that, his stinger waving out through the top as he began eating the burger inside. "So, whatta we know?" The crocodile sat himself down at the outside table. Chaotix had taken up places in a park within the city centre. Since Mobians were now on Hexagon's most wanted list, they hadn't been allowed to set foot inside a restaurant but they had allowed him to take their order to go.

"It all comes down to this 'Henry Patterson'." Beck replied before sipping his cola through a straw.

"He's the missing link here." Rei added; glancing down at the ID card they'd taken from the dragon they'd fought about a week ago. After receiving such a horrifying vision from it the flying squirrel hadn't had the nerve to touch the thing directly. "He's our only link to Hexagon and this… leap gate." Espio had the files taken from Falling Star laid out in the centre of the table. He'd taken the liberty of making copies both on computer and printed just in case Hexagon caught onto them. The originals he wasn't letting out of his sight.

"Both Hexagon and G.U.N know these dragons aren't hoaxes, and look at this." The chameleon added, turning over the newspaper he was reading for them to read. The front line story was –Dragon hoaxes persist over midland America and Europe-. "According to the president of Falling Star, Leap Gate's a piece of technology G.U.N recovered from the Armageddon battle station." Espio continued, passing the paper to Vector. "You remember those dragons both Krish and the Black Arms used? This may have something to do with them."

"You think they're experimenting with those things?" Beck asked.

"Well they're up to something alright." Vector replied, his eyes scanning the contents of the paper. "And I intend to find out what." Charmy stuck his head up through the top of the back, the side of his check smeared with ketchup.

"So whatta gonna do Vector?" The smile on the young bee's face showed he was hoping for another of the crocodile's elaborate and insane schemes. Everyone looked the crocodile's way, waiting for him to show him his latest way to get them arrested. They were all quite surprised when he leaned back in his chair, putting his hands behind his head and admitted;

"I don't know." All of Chaotix, Espio included, sat their dumfounded. Charmy rolled out of his bag and nearly tumbled off the side of the table in surprise. "What? Even I can't think of everything."

"I never thought I see the day." Espio murmured with wide eyes.

"Ah shut up." Vector replied. The end of his snout suddenly twitched as a familiar fragrance floated past. The smell of a perfume he very aquatinted with. "Vanilla." He began as a shadow fell past him. Looking him, he saw the rabbit standing nearby; her face shaded by a straw hat. Espio sighed and made silent gestures with his hands to the others, telling them without saying a word to prepare for the crocodiles pathetic attempt at a romantic display.

"Good to see you Vector." She began with a smile. Cream passed on by Vector with Cheese and Emerl by her side. She did not approve of the relationship her mother and the crocodile had and made the fact known. Cream had adopted her mothers own style with a straw hat of her own, her long ears trailing out through two holes cut in the straw. "I haven't seen you for a few days. Have you and your agency been busy?"

"The usual." Vector replied as she sat down in the empty seat next to him.

"I was wondering if you had any information about the current events." Vanilla asked as her daughter and her robotic guardian sat themselves down as well. "We saw that ship Tails built on the news; that broadcast about that base blowing up." Vector hesitated, unsure whether he should say anything about their investigations.

"We're looking into it." Beck replied, cutting in for him.

"An entire column of tanks went past our apartment last night." Vanilla stated. She narrowed her eyes. "Funny thing is they were taking a good deal of trucks loaded with crates with them." That caught Vector's attention. "They all had that military 'G' on them. Must have been something important and I was wondering if you boys could shed some light on it."

"Sorry, we've got nothin'." Rei replied with a mouth full of burger.

"It's just that I've heard that stories over the internet of soldiers moving into Central City. Under the orders of Mandarin."

"Mandarin?" Vector repeated looked a little puzzled.

"Jericho Mandarin." Beck replied. "He's been the Commander of G.U.N for the past thirty years. He was the one who forged the military into what it…" He paused to correct himself. "What it was before Hexagon."

"He's one of the few military guys who didn't go on Hexagon pay role." Rei added in wiping the ketchup stains from around his mouth. Vector sat there silently before a moment and Espio watched with dawning fear as he saw the beginnings of crazy schemes being born behind the crocodile's eyes. Unable to take it the chameleon put his head in his hands as Vector stood up suddenly.

"Then he's our guy!" Everyone looked at the crocodile with a puzzled expression on their face, even Cream and Cheese. "He's a G.U.N guy that doesn't have Hexagon pulling his strings. If there's anyone we can get to for information, it'll be him." Rei and Beck cast each other a puzzled expression before finishing off their mouthfuls of food.

"Sure, let's waltz right up to the front desk and go; 'Can we see the head of the military please? No we haven't got an appointment we just wanna beat some information outta him." Espio remarked with levelled eyebrows. "That'll work well."

"I'm with Espio on this one." Rei told him. "We already know too much already and Hexagons clearly has trust issues."

"All the more we get to the bottom of it." Vector announced. "Expose them. Make sure the truth is known. Isn't that our job as detectives?" He grinned showing all his teeth. "Besides when have I ever led you guys wrong before?" Charmy opened his mouth to speak but Espio just clamped his hand over it shaking his head.

"Then you do know something?" Vanilla asked. "Then I'll be going too." Vector looked at her a little taken aback. "I'd like to know what this is all about as well." She assured him with a smile.

"Can I go too momma?" Cream began tugging at her mothers dress. "I haven't been on an adventure for a while."

"Oh who am I kidding?" Espio asked from the empty air around him. "I'm coming as well."

"Guess that means we're in." Rei muttered to Beck, who just nodded and stuffed what was left into their bag to go. Charmy thrust a fist into the air with a wide smile on his face.

* * *

---

With the relentless attacks by the robots proving nothing more than an irritation, the dragon decided that by now, it had had enough. It was hungry and with its meal just in sight it was not going to let itself be delayed for anything. Bring its wings sharply around, it clashed through the air with bones the size of tree trunks snapping any flying Dreadnaughts in half. Explosions riddled the air and with their forces depleted, the remaining attacks were barely enough to sting.

E102: Gamma rallied the remaining Dreadnaughts to him and led one final charge upon the beast, blasting its thick armoured underside with an intense barrage of laser fire. The explosions rang out along the scales but they did not impede the beast's progress. With their numbers depleted they barely even bothered the creature.

But they had bought enough time by Gamma's calculations. The minute they needed to give the doctor they had earned and by now the Egg Carrier's cannon was ready. To preserve their forces, the E102 unit ordered the robotic unit to withdraw. Drawing back as best they could given the size of their enemy, the Dreadnaughts laid down cover fire and retreated.

Now the beast was free to attack, and it was clear that the flying vessel before it had to be removed first. Unfortunately however it was too large for it to rip apart physical. This was going to require something more.

The wings spread out to absorb the sunlight again as the dragon laid its neck down close to the ground, the gills lining the outside edge snapping open one by one. Its attention was so fixated on the ship before it, the creature didn't notice the blue blur flying towards it until it was too late. Sonic's spin dash hit it directly in the right eye and he screeched, staggered backwards into the smouldering remains of a building.

Metal Sonic came in from the other side and smashed a kick into its left eye. Blinded, the beast towered up and screamed, scraping with its wings at its head trying to dislodge the intrusions.

The Egg Carrier's cannon pulled itself open with a loud screech, the needle that formed the Eclipse Cannon style centre jutting out. It was still red hot after firing such a short time ago and multi-able discharges of such a powerful weapon had the risk of explosion consequences. But now the batteries were recharged and Eggman had only one chance. He could not let that creature fire off another attack of its own. It had to be taken out now.

"Recharging complete Doctor." Becoe stated. "Now switching to manual firing mode." A round metallic pedestal rose up out of the floor before Eggman's seat and one it was at arms height rotated around to show a series of controls. A holographic screen image appeared before the Doctor, showing the dragon scrambling about trying to get two blue objects out of its eyes. "Locking on target." A pair of cross heirs moved across the screen and incepted each other with a loud confirming bleep directly in the centre of the Dragon's body.

"Energy discharge in five…" The doctor began, seeing the powering gauge on the side of the screen slowly fill up. "Four…" The needle within the cannon began to shake and spark with bolts of purple lightning. "Three." With the covering for the weapon now completely out of the way, sparks were really flying this way and that, pieces of metal flying off. The cannon wouldn't take this much pressure for long. One more discharge was all it was going to take before serious maintenance had to be performed. "Two." A pair of hand grips slid out the pillar and Eggman held onto them, flipping the covering on a button on the top open to reveal a thumb size red button. "One!" Slamming his thumb down on said button, the entire Egg Carrier shook and then lurched backwards as the cannon fired.

Unable to take the strain the entire firing needle fell apart the moment after the beam had shot out through the air, smoke bellowing up like a cloud. The laser smashed through with shockwaves rippling every few feet.

"Time to hit the road." Sonic remarked, shooting over to Metal Sonic and grasping the robot by the shoulder pads; the two of them vanishing in a Chaos Control warp. Now with the two of them out of its eyes, the dragon could see the coming blast mere moments away. The creature hadn't the time to move out of its path.

Acting on instinct, it sucked in as much charged particles as it could in the allotted time; thick streams of red orbs of light flowing in through the gills. It barely had enough time to absorb the sunlight to act as the catalyst.

It threw open its jaws and fired the blast directly into the path of the coming attack. The two devastated forces met in mid air and for a single moment it felt like sound, sight, touch and taste had all vanished; a white haze engulfing everything with a near silent advance. Then the roar came.

As if God had stubbed his toe the ground shook and the air spilt open at the sound. Cracks began tearing through the island, swallowing the ruined city piece by piece. The rippling shockwaves through the ground jarred several pieces of the island itself off and they fell, crashing into the surface far below causing earthquakes for miles.

To avoid being swept away in the ensuing winds of the blast, Blaze swung her sword into the ground and used it as an anchor. Void, unable to do so, nearly flew past her to his doom. Lashing out at the last second, she grabbed his cape and held on tight.

"Why does this kind of stuff only happen to me when I hang out with you guys?" Okida asked, using a piece of rubble to protect himself. His wings were curved around his body, shielding his face from flying piece of debris.

"Part of the job." Amy replied, her hammer anchoring her down to the ground.

"I quit!"

The winds and roaring died down and once sight was restored, they looked to see the Ragnarok Dragon still standing. Its mouth was still ajar from its attack, thick clouds of smoke trailing out through between its teeth, out through his nostrils and each gill. It looked shaken but it was still very much alive. Doctor Eggman's Egg Carrier however was in far worse a shape. The Ragnarok's back had shot back its own and the engines had barely had time to throw the vessel to the side to avoid it. The paint job down the left hand side of the vehicle had been scorched off leaving only the bubbling metal there.

"Damage report!" Eggman cried out, struggling to keep himself in his seat as the ship tipped to the side slowly.

"Cannon now completely inoperable, engines one and two failing."

"We've got to land before we crash!" The two robots were frantically trying to regain control of the damaged craft as it had received enough damage already.

Seeing an opportunity for an easy kill, Ragnarok heaved its massive wings back against its shoulders and began forward towards the sinking ship. Gamma had his troops open fire but the hits were like pin pricks to the creature.

"Retreat! RETREAT!" Eggman called out and instantly the Egg Carrier tried to pull back but with one of its engines damaged would not be able to move fast enough to avoid the blow. The dragon's tail slapped the vessel directly on the side causing a massive dent in the armour plating. With the ship falling towards the ground, Ragnarok went to finish the job by snapping the Egg Carrier in half with a single snap of its powerful jaws.

Before it could, blue object smashed itself into its left eye. Blinded, the beast staggered back, allowing the Doctor the precious time he needed to pull the ship out of its rapid descent. Ragnarok tried desperately to shake Sonic off but the hedgehog was not going to be letting go of its eyelid any time soon.

"Sonic Wind!" He cried, reaching up with one hand to gather the energy before throwing the pal down and unleashed the vortex directly into Ragnarok's eye. The beast howled as the blast tore its eye to pieces leaving it permanently blinded on that side of its face. Now angered beyond all, the dragon slammed its head down on the ground and tried to use the ruined buildings to scrap its intruder off.

Sonic let go a second before and somersaulting up into the air put himself in the perfect position to attack. Curving his body into a spin dash, brought himself crashed down on the top of beasts head. The shockwave slammed Ragnarok's entire skull into the ground with a thud.

With the beast now on the ground Knuckles moved in for the kill, one fist held high. Slamming it down the echidna tried to break the dragons neck but the tough armour like scales kept it safe. All the blow did was crack one of them, breaking it off with a loud cracking sound. For a moment Knuckles thought he'd done it, only to have his hopes smashed as the dragon reared itself back up.

Acting on instinct, the echidna darted forward and anchored himself onto the Ragnarok's chest by sinking his spikes into the scales. It was almost like rock climbing.

"Let's see how you like this!" He drew his arm back, gathered strength in his arm before throwing it forward. Repeatedly he smashed his fist into the thick scaly skin trying to break through it. When cracks were spreading through the scales, something clamped onto the Echidna's foot and pulled him sharply up into the air. To his horror Knuckles found his leg trapped between the teeth of the dragon. It was a miracle it hadn't bitten his leg clean off with teeth that size. Knuckles realized he had to get himself loose before it bit through a major artery. He struggled but the more he did the more and more his leg hurt.

Smelling food just inches from its lips, the dragon prepared to devour the snack in one bite.

Before it could, Blaze came flying out of the nowhere with her sword drawn back. Jamming the weapon forward, the blade struck directly into the Ragnarok's good eye. Screaming, it tossed its head back and forth and Knuckles was tossed from its lips and into a glide to safety.

Blaze ignored him and dragged her sword swiftly to the side, tear the eye and making it useless leaving the beast completely blind. The action however, slicing through both eye and tough scales, shattered her blade. It broke apart from the hilt in a spray of metallic shards.

Now frantic, the Ragnarok threw itself about as if convulsing. Blaze did her best to hang on but eventually she was struck along by the edge of a giant wing. The blow knocked the wind out of her and sent her coursing through the air. Unable to fly and knocked half way to unconsciousness she faced a long fall to a collect of jagged rocks below.

Hurtling below her, Sonic caught the feline in his arms. Feeling the sudden contact, Blaze opened her eyes. Sonic grinned at her and winked.

"Chaos Control!" He spoke out load and the two of them vanished in a flash of green light. Even with its eyes blinded the Ragnarok was not without a way to tell where it was. It had heightened other senses such as acute hearing and smell. Even so, it was driven to distraction by the loss of its sight. It had gone far beyond angry now. Its hunger did not enter into it any more. Now all it wanted was to destroy the beings that had blinded it. It could hear heart beats, many heart beats beating in fear. The felines had all huddled into the fortress in the centre of the city hoping it would keep them safe.

Far from it. Their actions had simple made them one big target.

Caring about nothing else, The Ragnarok smashed both legs down sinking the claws down into ground as anchors. Its wings spread out to catch the sunlight as the beast aimed itself up to point directly at the fortress. The gills along its neck began opening.

"I can give Sonic the necessary power boast he needs to punch through the gland, but after that it'll be up to him. Those scales are going to be thicker than anti-artillery armour." Metal Sonic announced. He paused to survey the looks around him. Most of them were pained and distrustful, not that he blamed them for him. "Right now it all depends or whether or not I've earned your trust back." Everyone was silent for a moment.

"You never lost mine." Amy told him managed a smile.

"Or mine." Tikal added.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but me too." Knuckles stated. His leg had been quickly patched up with a red stained length of clothe.

"And if I didn't trust you I won't be volunteering for the kamikaze run." Sonic put in, emerging out of a Chaos Control warp with Blaze on his shoulder. "So let's go for it."

"I'm afraid things have gotten a little more complicated." A voice announced as Void flew up with his sabre at his side. "The dragon is charging itself to fire at the feline's stronghold." Blaze looked up sharply at the dark silhouette. The sky far above them was starting to darken from orange to blood red, the giant sun in the sky becoming gold in appearance.

The felines in the stronghold gazed out at it, fear gripping them all. Jack watched from the battlements, for the sake of his soldiers keeping a firmly emotionless face on but inside he was trembling. Under his fur he was sweating bullets.

"What should we do sir?" Jack didn't know. He was out of ideas. Everything depended on those fighting to keep Ragnarok away from them. He could do nothing.

"Have faith in the Mistress." He replied as the sky began to burn with red lightning.

"Oh that don't look good." Okida muttered as sparks of red began to scar the ground, spreading out from the Ragnarok as it began to absorb a river of charged particles.

"It's gonna fire on the Felines?" Tikal asked with wide eyes.

"It'll never get the chance to." Someone stated. Looking back, they watched as Shadow heaved himself up into a sitting position. "It's blinded by anger and that's effect it's judgement. It's absorbing too much energy from the sunlight and taking in too many charged particles. Once all this mix's together with the hyper matter in its gut, it'll explode."

"Fine." Sonic stated, folding his arms with a smile "Then we don't have to do anything." Shadow shook his head.

"The blast will be the equivalent of a couple of mega tones."

"You means it's about to do a Hiroshima on us!" Okida sounded frantic. Shadow nodded and stood up.

"The energy released will easily be enough to destroy this entire island." The imagined picture of the explosion passed simultaneously through all their minds.

"Then we haven't got much time." Metal Sonic stated. "We've got to finish it before the chemical reaction can take place."

"Well how long is that?" Sonic asked. Several bolts of red lightning tore the roof off their hiding place, their scream of the energy passing by an extremely high pitch.

"Judging by the way its charging itself…" Metal Sonic began. "Not long." He turned to face them. "We got another problem too. The energy it's absorbing, according to my sensors, has reinforced the structural integrity of the creatures body." Sonic expression begged further explanation. "It's now beyond my ability to give you enough power to punch through." Without a word Shadow reached onto his wrist and detached a second golden ring that no one had taken much noticed off. Flipping it around in his fingers, he flipped it over to Sonic. The blue hedgehog caught it like a coin and held it up.

"What's this?" He asked. It looked like a power ring he used for a recharge in battles, only far more darker in colour than the ones he was used to seeing. Gold swirled with black like oil and water. Even in his hands he could feel it buzzing and could tell it was not like any ring he had used before.

"This should give you the boast you need." Shadow told him. "It's a little present Prof. Gerald left behind for me. If that doesn't give you what you need to stop that thing, nothing will."

"It's more of a dimensional gate than a power source." Tikal reminded him. "If you want to unlock the energy within then you need me to unlock it."

"You can do that?" The black and red hedgehog asked.

"I spent a near eternity inside the Master Emerald." The echidna replied. "It gave me abilities you do not have."

"This is getting confusing." Sonic admitted. The roar of the Ragnarok interrupted him. The red stripes over its black body were beginning to glow with the energy it was accumulating. The sky around was rippling as if a thick wall of heat was passing through it. The Blue hedgehog grinned and closed a fist around the ring in his fingers. "But if you can give me the chance I need then I don't care. Let's go!"

"Blaze!" Void called out as the feline took off. "Wait come back!" She ignored him. The Ragnarok had to be stopped now and it was her responsibility. She could see the towering flying lizard from here, building up more and more energy. She didn't need Shadow's explanation to tell that it was dangerously close to exploding. Its scales were struggling to keep the red glow inside. Beams of intense red light were shining out through the cracks. She didn't understand exactly what a megaton was, but if it was enough to destroy this island then it was something that had to be prevented.

The Dark One had been playing her like a puppet for years but that ended here.

* * *

---

Jericho Mandarin was a man with a distinguished record of military service. Despite being into his sixties he had lead the G.U.N army for thirty years and showed no signs of the fatigue of old age. A man the troops worshiped nearly as a god and had fanatical devotion to the man who had marched them through countless campaigns always onto victory.

So when the whisper amongst the soldiers began their commander was marching on the capital, they rallied to him in their thousands. Ignoring the orders of the Hexagon top ranks they took off to follow their leader. Tanks rolled out of bases followed by countless Combat Mechs.

All communications were shut down so the utter chaos quickly gripped the corporations hold on the military. Unable to tell what was going on, Hexagon had been left completely in the dark.

Mandarin's strategy revolved around surprise. At the moment Hexagon consider G.U.N their loyal law enforcement division and the last thing they expected was for them to start getting a back bone. Still, the slightest hint of rebellion to them and it was going to start raining missiles before he knew what was happening. Hexagon had to be silenced before their itchy trigger fingers could press the big red button. The operation had to be carried out as quickly as possible.

The troops were ready and their enemy did not suspect a thing. It was now or never. In his office, the G.U.N Commander sat in his chair facing the window. There was still a lot on his mind. The question of whether or not he was doing the right thing was still dogging him like a vengeful phantom.

If he won the day, he was would be crowned a hero across the entire earth. If he failed however he'd go down in history as a murderer and a terrorist. If he did fail however, Hexagon's hold would be cemented.

Suddenly someone cried out from somewhere beyond the door followed by a loud thud. Jericho stood up suddenly as the door opened and one of the soldiers who had been standing guard outside fell in. Following close behind them were men in riot police gear and all armed with automatic rifles. Instantly they surrounded the commander and held him at gun point as someone else entered the room.

"Jericho Mandarin, you are under arrest." Their leader was one of the hexagon board of directors. The very man who had the purse strings of the military, the war budget manager; a man Jericho despised greatly.

"On what charge?" The Commander asked, trying to bluff his way out of it but knowing it was useless all the same.

"Treason, conspiracy against the state." The man replied. "Officers under your command have already been apprehended." One of the soldiers produced a pair of hand cuffs. "Your movement will be crushed within a few short…" The words froze in his thought as someone hit him from behind. The precise blow to the back of the head rendered him unconscious instantly and he dropped to the floor with a loud thud. The soldiers shot around only for one of them to get a flying kick straight in the face. The blow sent the man flying backwards past Jericho and out the glass window behind the desk with a spray of glass fragments.

None of them could see what was attaching them. It was completely invisible to the naked eye. One of them fired several shots blindly into the air and he was next to go down, an invisible punch thrown into his face before his feet were knocked from under him.

The cavalry came to the rescue when a mobian crocodile burst into the room from the window, two large arms held wide as he tackled two of the soldiers to the floor and wrestled them away from the commander. The remaining three soldiers seeing their numbers dwindle bolted for the door, only to some face with a boy probably now older than seventeen and a mobian Flying squirrel at about the same age. The two of them drew a fist back and threw it forward both in unison, knocking the soldiers out with a single blow.

"I love this job." A mobian bee probably now older than six announced, flying into the room; proceeding to use the helmet of one of the out cold soldiers as a bongo drum.

"I think you boys have been hanging around Shadow too long." A female mobian rabbit stated following the flying squirrel and the human into the room. The G.U.N commander just stood there a little stunned.

"This the guy Esp?" The crocodile asked and out of nothing a mobian chameleon just materialized.

"This is him alright." It replied with a slight nod of the head

Vector grinned from ear to ear. It had been sheer luck that allowed them to arrive here in time to stop Hexagon from arresting the commander. Seeing him, one wouldn't believe him to be the leader of the army. He had short grey hair, almost white now. His eyes were odd two. One of them was sea blue and the other a chocolate brown. "Just who are you people?" Mandarin asked out load.

"Well that's a fine howdedo for the guys who just saved your sorry ass." Vector replied. The commander paused, then smiled and lowered his head a little.

"Forgive me, but I can not stay here. I have to get to my officers so I can get control of my men back before it is too late."

"You mean those guys being lead away to a firing squad?" Rei asked, flicking some of his head fur out of his eyes.

"Don't worry about it. We bailed them out before we got here." The commander's smile widened. "They went off to warn your troops that Hexagon's onto you."

"Well that's good to here." He wrenched his arms apart and the hand cuffs holding them together broke as if they were made of paper. He was certainly strong despite his age.

"If they're after ya so bad ya must have the Intel we need." Vector began although even he knew his expectations were a little high.

"I'm not in the habit of giving out information to civilians." The Commander replied.

"It's about Leap Gate." Espio added in and Jericho froze.

"Leap Gate?" He repeated. They could all see; even Cream and her mom, that that hand rang a very loud bell. His eyes were wide with a mute mixture of awe and surprise. "Just what do you know about that?"

"Enough to know it needs to be shut down before someone else gets hurt." The chameleon replied. "Care to tell us more?" Jericho narrowed his eyes as he pushed his lips together in a frown.

"Leap Gate was started when they dragged a piece of the Armageddon space station out of the ocean." He began quite reluctantly. "It was a piece of alien technology that allowed access across realties to other worlds. Since the theory of alterative dimensions has already been proved by Mobius and Earth merging, Hexagon saw it as a great opportunity to raid other worlds for resources and assets to fight off the impending Confederate Invasion." He sighed out through his nose. "That damn station's brought nothing but trouble. Hexagon swore all those involved in the project to secrecy and paid them off to keep their mouths shut.

For a while it looked like they might get away with it, but one of the raiding parties brought a mutating virus back with them.

It warped whoever contracted it into some kind of…"

"Dragon?" Charmy asked. The commander hesitated before nodding.

"Fortunately Leap Gate and all the original contamination was destroyed along with Area 99, but the virus is still present here on Earth. Hexagons keeping it quiet as they like to but unless it's made public so we can develop an anti-serum we'll be looking at a lot more victims."

"So is that why you performing a coup?" Rei asked with his tail swaying out behind him.

"I'd hardly call it a coup." The Commander replied. "Just a changing of the guard."

"You of all people I'm surprised at." Beck added in. Vector looked his way with a confused look on his scaly face.

"Whatya mean?"

"The Commander here has had his fair share of hostile takeovers." The human replied, tightening the head band keeping his hair out of his face. "He was raised on the ARK. He was only ten when it was shut down." The commander said nothing. He simply turned away to face the broken window.

"I don't want to talk about that." He stated. "Right now I have a war to fight."


	12. Ragnarok, pt3

The Ragnarok, now blinded, knew full well that its actions would result in suicide. In truth, it cared not. It was dead anyway. Without its sight its ability to hunt was seriously impaired and others of its kind would rip it to pieces for the fresh meet. This way, it could die with a little dignity and obey its master's orders to the last.

It could feel the energy building up within its body, reaching critical mass but still it kept absorbing more from the poor sunlight. The particles streaming in through the gills of its neck were a never ending lake and once they combined then the pain streaming from its ruined eyes would be gone.

If perhaps by some fluke it managed to discharge its weapon, then it would still do its masters bidding as it had pointed itself directly at the stronghold in anticipation of such a possibility.

Thy will be done. Those were the words of its master. The words it would live by till the last.

The smell of a nearby creature reached its nostrils and without stopping the energy absorption process it closed its mouth and turned its head around to face the general direction the scent was coming from.

Standing before it, armed only with a piece of metal she had scrapped up from the rubble was Blaze. Her armour had scorch marks on it, was torn in places from the fighting and she was near the point of collapse due to physical exhaustion.

"Show yourself Dark One." She stated, ignoring the giant lizard before her. "I know you can hear me." The silence endured for a brief moment, before the Ragnarok gagged as if something had seized control of its throat. It shuddered, but the particles kept flooding in through its neck, its wings remaining spread to absorb the sunlight.

"I'd say you were intuitive." A voice echoed from the depths of the dragons mouth, clearly not its own. Instantly she felt an eye on her, a single large eye that was staring at her from beyond her perception of space and time. "But had interference not come from Maginaryworld's errand boy then you would still under the belief you were safe." Blaze's face set itself into a snarl. "Your people have served me enough as test subjects and so my experiment must come to an end. I can not risk exposure to the prying eyes of the gods of the mountain just yet."

"Is that why you plan on destroying us?" She demanded; her full anger in flow. "What did we ever do to you?" The voice from beyond the ether chuckled and Blaze felt her fists tightening at her side by themselves, clenching so hard they almost drew blood.

"Save your breath. Your pleadings mean nothing to me." Through the voice she could almost feel the contempt brewing from its origins. "To me and my brood, you are simply microbes. Life form's we known well enough are there, but care little whether they live or die."

"You and your brood?" Blaze repeated. "Just what manner of creature are you?" Again that laugh, the low chuckle that set her emotions burning. A low rumble that suggested there was a private joke she was not in on.

"Before long neither you nor any other being will need to ask that question." A looming sense of foreboding crept over her at the sound of that. "My preparations are complete and my experiment is over." Blaze said nothing, her face forced into a permanent frown. "The gates will soon be open."

"The very words of your servant." She stated. Suddenly a though ran across her mind, a fleeting question in passing that needed to be asked. "Tell me. Are you the one my people refer to as… Loki?"

"The labels of the lesser are of no concern to me." Was the reply. Blaze tilted her had forward and closed her eyes, a slow grim smile spreading across her face.

"That is all the confirmation I need." She raised her jagged metal weapon in place of her sword; her eyes alight with steadfast determination bred into her from the moment of her birth. "Although with a servant beast called Ragnarok, I might have guessed."

"I have many." The voice replied tartly. "Mortals have labelled them Ymir, Fenrir and Surtur amongst other names."

"You are the Giants." Blaze stated. Now that things were put in her own perspective, it finally made sense. Fear of the unknown melted away as she faced a familiar enemy.

"Again you use labels that mean nothing."

"Once I am done with your beast I am coming for you Giant!" She announced ignoring his words. "Before this day is done I will see you freeze in the depths of Niflheim!" The laugh this time was loud and full of merry, hardly a chuckle; as if her words had amused him.

"Pathetic creature." Sensing the will of its master, the dragon reared its head up and bore its long-sword like teeth. "I'm already there!" She charged first, weapon held high ready to strike. The Ragnarok brought its bared fangs down, preparing to swallow her whole. She brought her weapon up sharply, baring the way of the deadly serrated teeth. "But when the herald stakes its claim to the cosmos, the underworld will not hold us!" The words of the Dark One, or now known to her as Loki, snarled at her through the Dragon one last time before he relented control back to the savage mind of the beast.

Struck hard by a slash from the long tail, Blaze was sent hurtling down to the ground; her weapon spiralling out of her grasp.

She rolled, avoiding a massive foot as it came slamming down trying to crush her into the ground. Grabbing her weapon as she did, she flipped back up to her feet and gripping the metallic shaft in her telekinetic grip; tossed it through the air to slam directly into the Ragnarok's chest as it heaved up. Striking at the scales Knuckles had weakened, the shaft rank deep; the tip pushing through the thick armour and into the soft flesh within.

It wasn't enough to seriously hurt the creature, but it was enough to pause it pain. The tip of the shaft was jabbing at the gland where it stored the massive amount of hyper matter necessary for firing its weapon. Enraged, it slashed at Blaze with its claws. Unable to dodge quickly enough, the feline caught the strike down her size. Her armour was ripped to pieces and her side slashed. Blood sprayed out with her cry and she staggered back against a crumbling wall, holding a hand to her wound; the blood leaking out through her fingers. She had taken worse hits before and devoted some magic to heal the wound; she readied herself as the shadow of Ragnarok fell over her.

She tried to run, but found her legs unable to move. The strike must have done more to injury her than she realized. Unable to do anything, she watched in horror as the dragon lifted its foot up higher.

"You wish!" A voice cried and out of the gloom came a hurtling blue blur, that slammed a kick into the foot and the dragon backed off. Even despite this, it kept charging itself; sunlight energy being pulled down from the wings and charge particles collecting in the throat. "Nice bravado lady, but there ain't no room in this outfit for heroics." Sonic stated; scooping Blaze up before the racing off, avoiding the dragon's tail as it wiped around to try and strike them from above. "That's my job."

Time seemed to stop at the moment as Blaze found herself staring into those large emerald green eyes. Any thoughts devoted to the nagging pain of her injury vanished and so did the pain itself.

As mistress, it had been her task to lead. The thoughts of courtship never even entered her mind. She felt her cheeks growing warm and she struggled out of his arms as he came to a stop.

"Put me down." She argued, turning away to hide her blush. Sonic let her go, sighting the wound in her side.

"You're hurt." He said stating the obvious.

"I've recovered from worse before." She replied and channelled more magic down into the heal process. The blue hedgehog watched as slowly the gap hole began to close; the skin sliding back over the bloodied flesh and the purple tinted fur following close after.

"I've gotta learn how ta do that." Sonic commented putting his hands on his hips with an impressed smile on his face. Void almost seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, coursing through the air before the coming to a sudden stop before them.

"Shadow and Metal Sonic are almost ready." He told the blue hedgehog. "I hope you're up to this, because we're only going to get one chance."

"Before we all go boom." Sonic continued for him with a grim smile. "Hey don't worry, handling last minute chances to save the world is what I do for a living."

"Void, the Dark One…" Blaze began, finding herself slightly out of breath from employing her magic so much. "I… I spoke to him."

"You did?" He asked looking surprised.

"He spoke to me through the beast." She explained. "He is Loki!"

"Loowkey?" Sonic asked mispronounced the word and giving Void a confused side glance.

"'_Loki'_ is a Norse god recognised by the Vikings on your world. A set of believes that has all but vanished from Earth." The small imp like creature explained. "But Nordic beliefs are still widely held in various other dimensional realms." Sonic just nodded, pretending he understood. "The felines share that belief and recognise Loki as a malevolent being, destined to lead the Giants against the gods on the day of Ragnarok." Sonic stood there with a strange look on his face, before he shook his quills irritably.

"Look, this situation is complicated enough without getting mythology riddled up in it." He tensed his legs. "You guys can talk Norse; I've got work to do." With that, he raced off leaving a thick trail of dust in his wake.

"Blaze." Void began. "Tell me everything you know."

* * *

-

Tikal stood there not moving a muscle, both hands held out in front of herself; her fingers pressed against one another almost like a prayer; silent incantations playing over her lips. Metal Sonic appeared to be a similar meditative state, both hands held out level in front of his chest; palms flat away from his body. The curved centre of his chest was steady glowing gold.

Shadow glanced down at ring Sonic had handed back. Why was it that despite everything, all the speeches, all the moral decisions; the history of the Professor, or the ARK and Maria kept haunting him ceaselessly?

With a frown he flipped the ring up like a coin into the air with a flick of his thumb. As it spiralled in the air and as it rose it increased in size, spinning wider and wider until it returned to its original size. It floated back down to the ground, gently floating in front of the black and red hedgehog, slowly spinning on an axis.

"It's your show now." He stated, turning to look at Tikal. To his surprise, he found water was seeping out through the cracks in the ground beneath her feet. Oozing up, it rose up her body, swallowing her in a thick pillar of liquid. As if merging with her, it sprouted arms along hers, legs with hers and even a head forged into being. Chaos, with Tikal floating within reared himself up; his large emerald green eyes opening with a wet slap.

"I required energy." Tikal stated, her voice coming out through Chaos' mouth, sounding distorted by the liquid body.

"I can supply that." Metal Sonic stated; the half eclipsed eyes glowing blood red as he drew a single arm back and arched the forward one, palm forward towards the floating ring. The glow from his chest and the Chaos Emerald within sparked wildly, sending the power arching down his arm. It leapt from its palm in the form of a constant lightning bolt and the Giant Ring started glowing an intense gold. Chaos' arms arched forward and gripped the side of the ring at that moment.

Within the space between the ring itself, a spiral of energy began to swirl, twisting within itself down to a point directly in the middle.

Shadow glanced over at the Ragnarok. It was nearly ready to explode. Intense beams of red light were beginning to seep out through the gaps in the scales and through the gills lining its throat. The sky around it was darkening, almost turning raven black.

"Any chance you can speed this up?" He asked.

"I only have one Chaos Emerald." Metal Sonic stated in reply. "It states time to charge up the energy required to break through that kind of armour."

"Well we don't have that time." Shadow snapped, turning around and holding up both hands towards the ring and the vortex in the centre. "Chaos SPEAR!" A bolt of prolonged golden light arched up from his body before being drawn into the ring like water down a plughole. Once it was gone, Shadow fell back into a sitting position now out of breath. The glow around the ring increased.

"I still need more energy than that." Tikal stated. The energy within was going to have to be monumental and controlling it even now was taking a great deal of effort.

"I spent all my life with the Master Emerald." Knuckles said. "Take whatever I've absorbed from it." He did as Shadow had done, holding his arm out towards the ring. Almost immediately a beam of green coursed from his body and was sucked down into the depths of the charging dimensional energy. Feeling more drained then he ever had in his entire life, the echidna fell backwards onto the ground.

"Charging is almost complete." Metal Sonic commented as the rings glow was almost like a second sun.

"This is where I come in!" Sonic proclaimed, sliding to a stop nearby; the shoes screeching across the ground. "Ooo nice set up." He added; glancing around the strange sight of a water demon enclosed around the echidna girl and a giant floating golden ring. "Okay, we all good to go or what?"

"You will only get one shot Sonic." His robotic counterpart reminded him, energy still flowing from his arm down into the vortex. "So I wouldn't be so flippant about it if I were you."

"Ah but you're not me." Sonic replied. If it were at all possible a smile would have crossed Metal Sonic's face.

"No." Was his eventual verdict. "I'm not."

* * *

-

"You have served me well my creature." Black Doom whispered across worlds to his beast. "Now, perform this one final task and you will be free from my service." With those final words ringing through its head, the Ragnarok began sucking up nearly every particle it could get. Oceans of red glowing orbs were passing through the gills into the throat, swelling it out wide. The wings were beginning to blister and burn, the skin peeling back under the awful assault of burning energy.

Its bones were breaking and internal organs were beginning to rupture. It did not care. Carrying out its master's orders was the one and only concern going through its brutal mind.

"Let's do this!" Sonic proclaimed and without a second of hesitation he leapt directly into centre of the ring. The golden circle convulsed at the intrusion, the vortex ceasing to swirl; going still before reversing direction and swirling in the opposite direction. His body curved into a spin dash, Sonic began spinning on the spot. Enough energy was present for the transformation and in response his quills changed, becoming jagged and golden.

The ground around them began to spark and shake as static electricity leapt from the ground and the golden ring slowly rotated around to far the near to exploding dragon. Tikal guiding it, Chaos and Metal Sonic lending her their strength, she strained to direct the coming blast in the right direction. Controlling this much energy, especially that of a multi-dimensional nature.

The chemical reaction mere moments away from taking place, the Ragnarok prepared itself for the end; moving its bloated body as close to the feline's fortress as it could. It was so preoccupied with the labour; it didn't notice Blaze running towards it.

In her grasp was the metal war hammer belonging to Amy.

Even with the hedgehog, she knew their combined efforts would not be enough to crack the armoured scales in time. There was only one chance for them to save her people and only she could give it to them. With athletic grace she raced up the Dragons leg as it walked, moving up towards the chest and the piece of metal she had left lodged in the chest.

Reached it, she lashed out and grabbed it for support. There was a sudden tremendous rumbling, climaxing in a boom that shook both the air and the ground. Hearing it, the Ragnarok swung back to listen more intently. Now blind, it could not see the danger hurtling towards it.

Blaze could. A golden bullet, unmistakeably the hedgehog. He and Ragnarok could collide in mere moments.

Blaze had seconds in which to act. Turning, she faced the wound in the chest with the metal sticking out of it. Focusing all her rage and anger on it, she saw that wound as everything that had culminated to make her life a living hell.

The one responsible for the one thing she could never forgive.

"This is for my dad!" She yelled out into the ether, bringing the war hammer up sharply before swinging it down hard on the metal shaft with an ear splitting crack. As if hammering a peg into the ground it sank deep into the flesh, the blow from the hammer shattering the scales. The metal sank deep into the hyper matter producing gland inside began leaking the explosion substance. The Ragnarok cried out in pain, but the cry was instantly silenced as a moment later; a golden hedgehog travelling with tremendous force struck the now unprotected belly.

The forced with which the spin ash struck sent the entire island tipping to the side radically. Ragnarok was consumed in an orb of light that expanded out like an explosion, going faster and faster until half the city vanished in the bright.

Metal Sonic sank his claws into the ground as anchors the moment before a bellow gust of wind struck them. His wings acting like kites, Okida was sent flying up into the air by the sheer force of it. Knuckles and Rouge sheltered themselves behind a shard of rubble.

Shadow grabbed Tikal in one hand, Void in the other and vanished in a Chaos Control warp, teleporting them out of danger as it struck, peeling whatever buildings were left standing were peeled off the ground.

As soon as it started, it stopped; the light fading away and the wind dying down and a silence rolling over the ruined city, only broken when Okida dropped to the ground yelling;

"I regret nothing!"

Blaze hoisted herself out of the rubble, feeling her arm sting with greatly irritating persistence. Glancing down, she saw it twisted at an irregular angle. She tried channelling some magic to heal it, but found she had exhausted it already.

"Do you require assistance mistress?" A familiar voice asked. Glancing up weekly, she saw Jack standing there with his large hand outstretched towards her.

"Hey yo." Another began. Leaning on a piece of rubble nearby casually was Sonic. "I thought I said no heroics?"

"If you don't live by your words, how can you expect others to?" She asked taking Jack's hand. Instantly replenishing magic flowed into her and once enough had accumulated, she healed the arm; the bones snapping back into place and healing. The sound was a horrific grinding that made Sonic's teeth hurt.

"On second thoughts I think I can live without learning that." He added, putting his arms behind his head and leaning back. Pulled to her feet, brick dust trailing out of her fur Blaze looked around at the scene that met her.

Lying nearby, a lifeless huge lump; was the body of Ragnarok. The dragon was lying there completely motionless, a giant hole punched through its chest. Its wings in utter ruin and scorch marks were stretched over the scales like relentless claw marks. The sky around was clearing, becoming its usual orange.

Okida, Knuckles and the others were quickly pulling themselves out of the rubble to join the crowd massing around them. Following Jack out of the fortress were the other felines. Soldiers and the ordinary civilians. The entire fortress had emptied to come out and watch.

Blaze was left standing there dumbstruck at just how few of them there were. Where was everybody else? The question didn't need answering she was quick to release, catching a painful lump in her throat. Even the mighty cheer that went up when they saw the corpse of the dragon did not ease the tears that were forming at the back of her eyes.

"I brought you this." Jack added and handed to her with his other hand, the Arcanum. Taking the jewel, she stared deep into its cut surfaces and frowned. Then without a word she lifted it up for everyone to see. The cheering intensified, then dropped to nothing when she deliberately dropped it on the ground near her feet and pulled Amy's hammer out of the ground nearby.

"It is off no use to anyone." Blaze stated simply, her face a twisted mess of anger. Swiftly she brought the hammer up above her head; before throwing her arms forward and bringing its sheer weight down hard on the crystal. It cracked under the assault before breaking apart in a spray of shards. The felines around her gasped and exclaimed in dismay as the fragments on the ground lost their glow, then their colour and became as fragile as transparent glass, breaking under clumsy footing.

Blaze just hissed through her nose and tossed the hammer over in Amy's direction, who caught it in one hand and balanced it over her shoulder. Slowly the feline turned to face her people. The startled looks she was going to have to dispel. Jack did not look surprised.

"I know that without the Arcanum, this island will fall from the sky." She stated, raising the level of her voice to speak to them all at once. "But what protection could it truly have ever offered us? None. It never did and will not now. As soon as the other dragons know their champion is dead, they'll swoop down on us."

"But this is our home." Someone shouted from the crowd.

"This is a cage." Blaze told them. "A cage we built; walked in and locked the door ourselves. Odin must be disgraced to have people under his wing." A few of them shouted in argument by Jack held up a single large arm to silence them.

"No she's right." He told them. "We must leave, before the other Dragons realize there is no longer any more competition for food."

"Anyone else smell smoke?" Okida asked suddenly irrupting anyone who wanted to argue. Blaze's ears pricked up and she whipped around to face the body of the Ragnarok. Smoke was rising from between the scales of the giant and occasional sparks were travelling up and down its length from its head to its tail.

"High radiation levels detected." Metal Sonic declared. "Explosion imminent."

"Ah crap!" Scales began flaking off the giant corpse and the chemical reaction they'd tried to stop took place inside it. Despite the now still heart within the creature, the energy, charged particles and hyper matter had all come together and was starting to combust. The felines all seemed to hiss as one and backed off, several of them stumbling over each other in the confusion.

"Estimated eighty seconds until critical mass is reached."

"We'll never get away in time."

"Even I can't run that fast."

"Void, can you get us out of here?"

"Not this many!"

Suddenly a colossal shadow fell across the ground, lancing down until it covered them all; the roar of thrusters engines accompanying it. Glancing up, Sonic saw that hovering directly above them was the Egg Carrier.

"Need a lift?" The doctor's projected voice asked and as soon as the ship was close enough to the ground, one of the doors that emptied out into the hanger bay of the Carrier opened up; a metal gang-plank descending down to the ground.

"Eggman's helping us?" Amy began with a confused look on her face.

"We don't have time to look a gift horse in the mouth, let's go!" Okida replied, racing up the plank after Sonic and the panicking felines. Bundled along with them Jailos was trying her best not to drop her packaged equipment. Even before the last of them had cleared the door at the top, the plank rose and the Egg Carrier quickly ascended into the sky.

The body of Ragnarok was now glowing, the muscles pulsating with hyper active spasms, high level energy discharges tearing off limbs and scaring the body from the inside.

Racing to the top of the Egg Carrier, Tikal watched as the body of the dragon was primed close to detonation. There was no way the ship could get out of range of the blast in time and even Sonic and Shadow's combined Chaos Control wouldn't be able to move it.

It was up to her.

Holding the ring tightly in her grasp, he began calling upon the power of chaos left within her; channelling every ounce of it she could muster and into the circle of gold.

"Tikal…" Maria, her friend for some time whispered into her ear. "If you do this, you will be stripped of any and all powers you gained from the Master Emerald." There was a brief pause. "And you will be unable to summon Chaos again." That last past stung like a knife lodged in her heart but Tikal did not waver.

"I know." She replied out load. "But this is the life I've chosen now. This is my decision." Even though she could not see it, the echidna girl could feel Maria's reluctant smile.

"You love him that much?" Tikal did not reply. "I see… then farewell."

The next instant, the floating island of the felines was ripped apart in a dazzling display of light.

* * *

---

Shadow glanced around at his surroundings and found there was nothing. Quiet literally, nothing. Nothing but a white void that stretched on forever in every direction. There wasn't even sure he could feel ground beneath his feet or if it was an illusion his brain was giving him. Where was he….

"I'm sorry Shadow." A voice said and the black and red hedgehog shot around, about facing into a fighting stance. "You'll never know how sorry I am." Shadow watched as before him, a familiar image came into being. One that had once given him a great deal of solace, but now only irritated him.

"Dimmitt Gerald!" He snapped as the face of the late professor faced. "Why must I be dogged by you no matter where I go or what I do?" Eggman's grandfather bore a very reluctant expression over his face, the end of his moustache dropping.

"I hesitate to use the word 'destiny' but I think that does suite it best." He replied.

"You told me my life was my own!" He could recall those exact words from the professor from the message he had seen when he found the ring in the first place. The relief that message had given him had been now being cruelly snatched away.

"A song and dance I'm afraid." Was the Professor sickening reply that set Shadow's anger souring to new heights. "Believe me I take no pleasure in putting you through this my son."

"Don't call me that!" Shadow's angry words were laced with venom. "You've been nothing but a burden my entire existence. You used me time and time again to further your own agenda." He set his hard blood red eyes straight against the apparition. "Creating and fathering are two VERY different things." A grim smile passed over Gerald's face. "And just what the hell is all this!" He gestured out wide to the void around them.

"This is a responsive message I laid into the ring." The Professor replied. "To be activated when the ring looses its dimensional properties." His smile widened. "Which I knew it would be when you found it." Shadow ground his teeth.

"Just how much string pulling do you intend to do from beyond the grave?" Gerald just shrugged.

"As much as I need to." He said with a sigh. "This conversation will last as long as the energy discharge from the ring does. That should be about five minutes if my calculations are correct. There are certain things you need to know that I can not tell you any other way than this."

"Why?" Shadow demanded.

"Because, simply put, I'm being watched." That reply was not surprising and Shadow just frowned. "By the Foundation and Krish yes, but not just them." Gerald added and his expression paled. "I hope you try to understand Shadow, I was desperate. I thought I had no other options. Maria was steadily dying and I was almost out of time."

"So you agreed to make a body for Krish." Shadow put in for him. "I know that already."

"But do you know **_how_** I did it. Do you?" The hedgehog simply hissed out through his nose and turned away

"Of course I don't." He snapped. "I'm not a scientist." Gerald cleared his throat before continuing.

"To make you I took genetic material from a mobian hedgehog, this you know; but…" The next bit of the sentence he added with a great deal of reluctance. "He was not the only donor." Shadow glanced back over his shoulder. "There was… another source."

"Who?"

"Like I said I was desperate. Maria was slipping away in front of my eyes and Krish was looming like a tsunami on the horizon."

"WHO?"

"I don't know his name, or if he even used one." Gerald stated. "We made an agreement and I signed my name on the dotted line without reading the fine print."

"Just what are you trying to say?" Gerald paused to take a deep breath.

"To stop one evil…" His tone was buried under tones of intense emotion. "I may have made a deal with another, worse one." His faced forged itself into a frown. "But I can't go back on my word, I have a blood debt. That is why I'm so sorry to have to put you through this."

"Put me through what?" Shadow was now getting most impatient.

"The payment." Gerald replied, looking away almost in shame; his glasses sliding down nearly to the tip of his noise. "Go back to the ARK Shadow. You'll be safe there. You won't be able to stop the Confederate attack." The black and red hedgehog just stood there stunned.

"How do you know…" He began with a wide eyed expression.

"Don't ask, you wouldn't be able to understand the answer." Geralds face had transformed into a rock hard expression of determination. "Just… go back to the colony." The world around them started to bend and arch, the void swirling with a sudden mix of colour. "Go home."

* * *

---

The felines had no homes, no weapons, no food and no water. They were now, as Void put it, inter-dimensional refugees. Escaping from their own world as their island was ripped apart by the explosion; they had found themselves without even a home planet of their own. Their population had been devastated by the dragon's assault on the city for which they had been completely unprepared. There was now barley even a tenth of their original number. The sheer loss of life was more than evident. Relatives were missing, families ripped apart and some groups even completely gone.

The survivors had created a makeshift camp by setting themselves up in as series of caves they had scouted out deep within the Mystic Ruins. Naturally pack animals, they stuck together in their groups.

The Egg Carrier, the ship they had all escaped on had been set down in a nearby field. Smoke was still rising from it in places and one of the thrusters was on fire. The Doctor's robots were still in the process of putting it out.

"This is the end." Blaze remarked staring out across their camp, her head fur let down out of its pony tail. "It was not the Ragnarok we feared, but our world folded just the same."

"We live beyond it." Jack reminded her. "That is something to thank Odin for."

"Perhaps." She replied. "But if we barely met this test, how will we fare on the true day of Rangarok?" She let the question hang in the air as she walked away. Jack just stood there staring after her.

He maintained the façade to the felines under his command that he was a wall of iron nerves. In truth, he was just as afraid as the rest of them. This day was not Ragnarok, but their world crumbled and succumbed to the Dragon Blood. What kind of devastation could they expect from the real thing?

"So what ya want to do with it?" Sonic asked as he and Shadow glanced over the small ring in his hands. The massive discharge of energy and then the drain had apparently been too much for it and it had shrunk, transforming into a simple golden ring; an energy recharge that the blue hedgehog tended to use so often.

Without a word the black and red hedgehog heaved his arm back before tossing it out over the waters of the lake they were standing on the edge off. It skipped like a thrown stone for a while, before it plunged into the depths and vanished; its glow swallowed up by the dark water. "I could have done with a recharge but there's as good as anyway." Sonic remarked pouting, walking off. Shadow didn't follow him.

He had not spoken to Tikal since she lost her inter-dimensional properties. Giving up the powers she had absorbed from the Master Emerald to help them escape. Now, her ability to summon Chaos had been ripped from her. As her oldest companion, Chaos was like a brother to her. Now, she might never see him again.

He knew what that felt like.

In truth his thoughts were distracted by that image of the Professor he had seen on their way back here. Anger still ran through him at the thought of it.

Go back to the ARK? What lay there for him other than painful memories and empty, haunted corridors?

Precisely just what had been the point of that message anyway? It revealed to him no new information but still, just what was this 'agreement' Gerald had been speaking off? A deal perhaps? A deal between whom and what for?

Each and everyday his world made less and less sense.

Shadow found Tikal in the feline's camp, sitting on her own staring out at the setting sun. Even with his own thoughts chaotic, he would not burden her with his own doubts. Not now.

He stood there at her side for a brief moment of silence before he glanced forward and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Wanna talk?" He asked, looking down at her face. It was then he noticed the red that marked trails of tears running down her cheeks. He tried to move his hand. He stopped him by taking hold of it. Without a word she placed it against the side of her face. He said nothing either, the hedgehog simply stood there and let her almost cradle his arm.

"A dimensional breech of that level going unnoticed?" Lumina Flowlight asked Void sceptically when he made telepathic contact to her to inform Maginaryworld of the events that had taken place. "You had best have proof that all I can say."

"Enough to satisfy the queen." He replied silently, glancing around the camp and the sole survivors of the Feline race. Despite the chaos and change of location Jailos, the Black Arm scientist was still working on the samples of the Dragon Blood she had acquired. While it was too late to save Fellena from that stagnating stranglehold, it wasn't for the recently infected Earth. If a cure could be synthesized in time and disturbed across the planet then it might still be saved.

If this wasn't enough to convince the bureaucratic hardliners of a dimensional incident then nothing was.

"I'll be needed medical supplies as well. I have injured refugees here." He could almost feel her look of disapproval glaring at him across realms. "And don't worry; I'm sure we can interfere this time."

"Well…" She began sounding reluctant. "Alright, they'll be on their way shortly."

No one noticed Metal Sonic leave the camp soon after their arrival. This business had been unprofitable but it had given him incites that he thought might prove useful at a later date.

His data banks contained footage from the battle. Metal Sonic intended to analyse it carefully and see what he could deceiver from it.

"Going somewhere?" A voice asked. The robotic hedgehog glanced back over his shoulder to find his organic opposite leaning against a tree. Shadow was nearby, his arms folded and his usual stern expression over his face.

"I don't do social gatherings." Metal Sonic replied turning his head back to face the setting sun. "I have my own priorities right now. You can look after these people if you want. Make's no difference to me. Oh, and take this." He reached into the hole in his chest and pulled out a Chaos Emerald. He tossed it like it was a baseball and Sonic caught it in the same style. "You'll be needed it more than I do." Before Sonic could say anything more, Metal Sonic bent his legs and the thrusters on the soles of his feat roared to life; propelling him up into the sky and onto the horizon in moments.

"He'll do what he wants to when he wants to." Shadow stated. "You can't ask anything more of him than that." The black and red hedgehog turned and walked away with a flick of his hand in 'washing-his-hands-of-the-matter' expression. "It's what I'd be doing if I were him." The blue hedgehog lifted the emerald to his face, then managed a mocking grumpy face in response.

"I am the only hedgehog that ain't a vengeful, angst-y guy not in touch with his emotional side?"

"What am I chopped liver?" Amy asked, leaning on his shoulder and laying her cheek against his. Sonic tried not to, but ended up laughing anyway. Amy's grin just widened. There seemed to be nothing that could get Sonic down.

Eggman however was not so jolly.

"That's it. I'm taking her right back to the Egg Moon for some proper repair work." He angrily stated, seeing the utter state his Egg Carrier was in. One of the wings had nearly been completely ripped off and was in need of another pain job. All automatic defences were done and the main cannon was going to need a serious overhaul. Perhaps even replacing.

"Looks like I owe you a favour." Sonic remarked. The Doctor looked back at him over his shoulder, a frown etched into his features with the sides of his moustache

"Well save your thanks." The Doctor replied folding his arms in front of himself. "Don't think this makes us the best of chums. I only helped you because I was my only way out of that hell hole." Sonic chuckled and put his hands on his hips.

"The day I start calling anyone 'chum' is the day I hang up my hero's license and start playing golf." Eggman ignored the remark, his eyes catching sight of Shadow. The black and red hedgehog was giving him a stern glare, their unfinished business now needed to be settled.

"And as for that ring of my Grandfathers…" The Doctor began folding his arms and turning to look up at his ship as the robots finished off the patching repairs. "Forgot about the damn thing! If this is the trouble it gets me into then it isn't worth having. Dimension travel… Bah! Who needs it! Come on boys." With that, he walked away with his robots following obediently behind. Gamma glanced briefly at Amy, before sliding after the Doctor.

"Jolly fellow." Okida remarked, brushing some of the head fur out of his face. "Sure we should be letting him go?"

"Hey forget about him." Sonic replied, stretching both his arms up until he heard a snap. "Now this is all over I'm taking a hot bath to forget about all this myself."

"No…" Blaze began with a sigh when they returned to the feline's camp; the dull roar dying down as the Egg Carrier took off into the sky; fading away behind some clouds and vanished completely. Void had been there for a while now, his brains still racked as to how he was going to report all this to Illumina. Tikal had been handing out what food she could. Blaze, when they found her; was sitting on a tree stump with a mug in her hands. "It is not over."

"Whatya mean?" Sonic asked. "Okay fine, we didn't manage to save your home; but heck, at least we got those we could to safety." The feline shook her head.

"It's not that." She stated. "Loki swore to me that even if his servant beast was destroyed, that would not prevent the Ragnarok."

"Say wha?"

"He told me that a herald would come, one who would stake its claim to the cosmos and would signal the opening of Niflheim." Sonic just stood there with a dumfounded look before he about-faced.

"I can't even pronounce half those words, never mind know what they mean." He replied with a shrug of the shoulders.

"Then you don't know your Norse mythology." Amy told him with a superior look on her face. "Niflheim is the Viking name for the underworld; a frozen void where dishonoured sprits dwell for eternity. Think of it as the Norse equivalent of hell."

"Oh." Was all Sonic could think of saying.

"Hey guys, surprise surprise, another doomsday prophecy." Rouge began with a short grin. "Who keeps coming up with all these?"

"Doomsday?" Jack asked of Void, not understanding the word.

"Their phrase for Ragnarok." He replied without looking around. "Blaze, just what did…" He paused for a moment as is unsure of how to ask the next question. "…Loki say?" Blaze was silent looking down at the mug in her hands, before glancing up at their expected faces.

"He told me that he would be freed from the underworld by the herald."

"A herald?" Void repeated. "A herald to Ragnarok…" That phrase struck him as familiar but he could not place where he had heard it before.

"We recognise the herald of this… doomsday … as the dragon Nidhogg." Jack added.

"You mean that thing we just fought?" Knuckles asked.

"No. We called that Ragnarok, naming it after our word for 'doomsday' as to us, that was it represented."

"I'm confused." Sonic admitted.

"You're not the only one." Okida added.

"Ditto." Rouge put in. "Amy, you're the expert on this Viking stuff. I'm havin' difficulty trying to figure out whom this… Loki is supposed to be."

"He's the Nordic god of tricks." The pink hedgehog replied. "I did a course on the Vikings for a while. On Ragnarok, he will lead the Giants against the gods in a final battle."

"Giants in an underworld." Void muttered to himself, pieces together bits of information in his mind trying to make them fit. Suddenly he looked up sharply, the brick of a plunge of realization more then apparent in his eyes. The colour faded from his face and he was left standing there with his mouth hung open.

"What is it Void?" Amy asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost." That cliché statement was perhaps more adept than the pink hedgehog realized.

The Destroyer had been horrific enough, but there was a legend of an evil even greater than him. A legend of a power greater than the god of death Krish Kra Pal. But… that was impossible. Legends were one thing, historical facts were another. But the evidence before him stated otherwise. But still… no it couldn't be; it just couldn't be. Could it?

"Worse than that." He stated. "No ghost can come close to what I think is behind this." He sat down. More accurately put he fell backwards onto his backside and sat there, looking more stunned and awed than ever. "But it can't be. It's just… impossible."

Sonic and Shadow cast each other a side glance.

"Hey don't keep us in suspense like this, what's the deal?" Void was silent for a moment, before he narrowed his eyes and shut his mouth as if he was trying to regain his composure.

"My people tell a similar story, of giants trapped in an underworld." He said slowly. "But we don't call them Giants."

"Then what the heck do you call them?" Amy asked sounding a little impatient. Void simply shook his head.

"The name would mean nothing to you, but they do have a more renowned label in your world."

"Which is?" Sonic demanded as the suspense was killing him. Void was silent long enough to take a long deep breath to steady himself.

"The Titans."

* * *

-

With his connection to that dimension shattered with his master beast destroyed, Black Doom opened his large orange third eye; the reptilian pupil directly in the middle narrowing at the sudden intrusion of light.

"Impressive." He admitted out load. He was not afraid to relent the fact they were skilled. Far to the country, he was pleased this was so. The more skilled they were the better. True they had almost ruined the centuries of planning within the space of several days, but nevertheless they had demonstrated surprising intelligence, cunning and skill. Especially Shadow. For this, he was most pleased.

Prof. Gerald's brain child had done exceptionally well.

While he was not grateful for the fact he had been forced to cease his genetics experiment on Fellena, at least everything that would point to his involvement had been reduced to piles of ash. As for the other dragons, or what was left of their population; he was more than certain they would fight amongst themselves until their eventual extinction. While he felt the loss of such a brilliant creation, they had given him all the genetics data he required. Everything was set now.

Even though events were to start in just over a year Black Doom could feel his excitement growing to heights already. What was one year to the thousands he had already endured?

Feeling a pair of eyes on him, Black Doom turned to see his captive staring at him defiantly from behind the thick sheet of glass that former the boundary of her cell.

"Not comfortable my dear?" He asked, narrowing his large third eye at her. "You should not fear me. It is not my desire to do you any harm."

"No, you just want to use me to further your own sick agenda." She replied, her voice muffled by the glass. Black Doom chuckled lightly.

"Oh is that what you think?" He floated closer, gliding across the floor. He had no legs, only a torso, arms and a head made up his body. A long pair of horns curved out either side of his skull, his crown adorned with small thorn like spikes. On the end of each one were red streaks running through jet black skin. His clothes were robe like, dark and almost violet with golden chains hanging around his neck and down the side of his arms. "You will play your part as you are destined to do, whether or not it is by my guidance." He gestured out with a cloven hand and instantly the image of both Sonic and Shadow appeared there, projected in a strange green light. "As will they."

In retaliation, she stood up and thumped her fists on the impenetrable glass barrier.

"You're wrong." She told him, defiance blaring in her eyes. "They are the chosen Speedster and the Shade. They'll be the ones to stop you." She thumped harder but the glass didn't move a muscle. "And Tails will be right there beside them when they take you down." Black Doom let his head role back and he laughed.

"You understand nothing." He told her. "I can not fathom how one so important can be so utterly ignorant." She adopted a confused look. "But you will know better soon enough. Here, in this place." He gestured out to the environment around him. "You will find more out about yourself than anywhere else.

Here you will know from whence you truly came and where your ultimate destination is." The glow in all three eyes increased and she backed away from the glass. "And the day will soon come when all shall know that their time is at an end.

The gates will soon be opened and you…" Black Doom leaned closer to stare at her relentlessly through the glass. "…are going to be the hand on the turning handle." She could not handle the intensity of the glass and looked away, closing her sea blue eyes to avert his. "But do you fear your destiny for you are not the only one to burden it." The illusion in his hand expanded to show not only Sonic and Shadow, but Amy, Okida, Knuckles, Rouge, Doctor Eggman, Chris and even Tails. There were dozens of others as well, many she did not recognise. "As this story plays out on stage, many performers will act their piece; all leading to the final climatic scene as the day of reckoning is unleashed!" He dismissed the image and stared directly at her. She could feel all three eyes on the back of her head. "So you see my little Cosmo, the storm is coming; a storm that will tear the blindfold around the eyes of justice. A storm that will cleanse history of its mistakes." She looked back, her green hair trailing down the sides of her head. "And you will be its eye."

* * *

-

Next: epilogue.


	13. Epilouge

-

Epilogue

-

"Attention all civilians. Human and Mobian alike." Everyone within the vicinity of a television or radio was puzzled when their programs disappeared. Across screens all over the globe, the image of a man with short cropped grey hair and one blue eye and one brown eye appeared. He was wearing a G.U.N uniform so everyone was expecting another Hexagon propaganda broadcast. Instead they got the opposite. "My name is Jericho Mandarin; Chief Commander of the G.U.N military. I am making this broadcast because as of this moment, the unjust martial law enforced by my soldiers all over the globe is now coming to an end." Crowds had gathered outside as the large overhead screens showed the commanders transmission. "I have ordered the withdrawal of all military personnel and equipment out of civilian areas." Even as he spoke his words were drowned out by a loud mechanical roaring. The crowd glanced back to see Walker mech's rise from their guard posts outside major public buildings and into line in the middle of the street. Soldiers in trucks and several on a collection of tanks quickly joined them and the convoy made a start for the cities freeway entrance. Nobody could believe it at first even though it was right in front of their eyes. "All forces with be drawn back to their respected bases and you have my word that the army will not infringe on the homes of unarmed civilians ever again."

All over the world similar things were happening. The robots marching through the streets were recalled, loaded back into trucks before speeding away. Military planes crossed the skies in great numbers before vanishing from sight. People, who had been almost too afraid to step outside their doors with the armed soldiers on the streets, stepped outside to watch in amazement.

"The control exercised by Hexagon is over. That organisation has been disbanded and its leaders, the ones responsible for the corruption in the first place are now under arrest." Jericho stepped side and two soldiers marched another man into shot. There were gasp all around the world as people saw President Jones forced to stand in front of the podium at gun point. "Go on… Mr. President." The Commander added with a small grin. Jones looked angry, very angry; but with rifles pointed at him he had little choice.

"I nearby declare my resignation from Federal office and the handover of all power within all Governmental affairs to the G.U.N Commander; Jericho Mandarin." There was a brief moment of silence all over the entire world; before half the population; mostly mobian, began cheering. One of the soldiers jabbed his rifle into the man's back once to remind him of something. "Also…" Jones began again half stammering. "I wish to apologise to the mobian community and anyone else that suffered because of rash decisions made by Hexagon." The cheering did not stop.

"I never thought G.U.N had the guts…" Chuck muttered in amazement, listening to the broadcast on the radio transmitter on the bridge of the Blue Typhoon. This was nothing short of a fully fledged coup.

Fang the Sniper watched the broadcast from the centre of the crowd in Central City, his face set in a frown. Hexagon had made business for him very good. Now that G.U.N had taken charge it was going to be hard for a guy in his line of work to make a living.

"You may consider yourself impeached." Mandarin told former President and the soldiers lead him away. The commander faced the camera once more. "Also, I am reporting to the public that all democratic elects will be postponed until after the Confederate Invasion has been repelled. To ensure that this corruption is never repeated certain changes are being made." Nobody seemed to care what he said from that point on. They were all far too happy. Parties were breaking out in the streets. Kegs of bear were being wheeled out and dished out for free. Even the people who owned it were simply too happy to care about payment. "Until the planet is secure, the Government is being reorganised into the G.U.N Federation." A digitally layered icon appeared behind the Commander, a blue flag with the military's 'G' symbol directly in the centre with roman style leaves arching up doth sides.

"Pretty speech." Jones muttered when the transmission was cut off. "But do you really think this coup of yours is going to last?" His face set itself in a sneer. "You're too soft. Before too long someone like Eggman is going to snatch this victory away from you. That's how the world works." The commander turned around to face the former President. "You're a pathetic visionary from ARK, a colonist who took to looking at the stars for too long. You're dreaming Mandarin. Democracy doesn't last when you're trying to survive."

"Is that what you call what you were doing?" He asked. "Survival?"

"Of course." Jones replied without a moment's hesitation. "You really think that with the hard time we had fighting the Black Arms that the Confederates are going to be any easier? No, we both know their fleet outmatches ours with ease. Unless this planet puts all its efforts into defence, with no room for 'equality', they'll walk right over us." Jericho was left staring at the former President in disgust.

"You're as bad as the Elite and the Foundation." He stated. "Take him away." With that all said and done, Jericho now found himself as ruler of the world. Un-official ruler, but he was still making the big decisions. There was just one thing left to do to finish this first piece of business.

"Send a communication to the Blue Typhoon." He ordered. "Inform its crew I wish to meet with them."

* * *

-

Jailos had been successful in manufacturing a cure for the Dragon Blood after extensive study of the complex genetic engineering used to create it. The biological agent she produced was at once released over the Earth in a gaseous form. Any microbes of the deadly virus were killed as it encountered them and anyone even remotely infected was cured.

The world had been saved from a horrible fate and hardly anybody was the wiser.

"Accept us." Vector stated proudly putting his hands on his hips. "Because of our top notch detective skills we gave that Mandarin guy all the evidence he needed to bring down Hexagon." Espio made a gesture to ignore him and most took his advice.

Once the Blue Typhoon had picked up its crew who had gone for the trip, Chaotix had arrived shortly after. The two groups had been exchanging information on the situation and it seemed on both ends to have been resolved.

Knuckles and Rouge had disappeared as well. Knuckles had returned to Angel Island, that they knew for certain but whether Rouge went with him or not was unknown. All bets were 'with'.

"What about Fellena?" Amy asked. "We can't leave it overrun with Dragons."

"You leave Fellena to me." Void stated, folding his arms as he glanced out over the ocean from the bridge of the ship. "Even as we speak an investigations team from Maginaryworld is on their way to assess the situation. With the genetics expertise of Jailos we should be able to combat the Dragon Blood there as well." He glanced down at his feet. "Given a lot of time." He turned around to face them with an irritated look on his face. "And before any of you start, I'll admit it; ok, I was wrong. Happy?" Everyone stared at him feigning innocent expressions. "Fellena was huge dimensional breech. Are you all satisfied now?"

"Marginally." Sonic replied with a flick of his wrist.

"What about Blaze and the other felines?" Amy asked. "Have you found another home for them?" Void sighed irritably, folded his armed and turned away.

"They said they weren't going anywhere."

"They said what?"

"They told, in their own words; to leave them alone." He cast them all a glance, narrowing a single large eye. "They've decided they want to stay here."

"I though they hated this… 'Ape' world?"

"They don't want to be treated like refugees even more. It goes against their 'warriors' pride."

The decision to stay here in the Apes world was not one taken lightly. Most felines found it polluted, over-populated and hardly suited to their needs. Still, they refused to be treated as refuges and voted to remain where they had set themselves down.

The loss of their home and the shattering of their belief in the Arcanum had been horrific emotional blows for all the survivors but it had brought them together as a people; re-forged the spirit of the warrior within them all. The belief in the Asgard, which had been slipping with the supremacy of the Arcanum, suddenly became wide spread and offerings of a nights hunt up to Thor and Odin were being conducted.

Not all of the Apes world, or **_Earth_** as they were forcing themselves to call it out of courtesy, was as bad as the city's they had hunted through on this arrival here. There were jungles, forests, woods, deserts; a huge expanse of different hunt grounds and preys to stalk.

On Fellena their hunting had been restricted by the dragons in and around their island, but here; without that threat hanging over their heads. Moving to another dimension to escape the Dragon Blood would have been impossible on their own… and… Jack was forced to admit… loosing more than half their respected population helped lessen the energy requirement too.

"Blaze…" The large feline began, suddenly realizing what had been nagging him. He glanced up around the camp. The felines had fortified it with a wooden fort wall arched in a circle around the entrance to the caves they were setting themselves up inside. It lacked whatever they amassed in the way of technology but for now they felt great pride in what they had built.

Blaze was nowhere to be seen, and Jack could not sense her presence within the cave system. "Have you seen the mistress?" He asked, calling down from his look out.

"She was down by the cave entrance a minute ago, using a fire to heat up a piece of metal." A feline from below called up. "I think she was forging a new sword." Jack looked up but could not see Blaze anywhere around the cave entrance. The embers of a fire were still burning. "Cover for me." The large cat announced, before sliding down the side of the wooden look out tower and landing with a thud on the muddy ground.

He found that by the fire were hot metal shaved as a recently used forging hammer. Blaze had been making a new sword for sure. But where as the feline herself?

"There you are sir." A voice began. Jack glanced up to see a feline approach him. He was one of the soldiers that had been injured in the battle, his leg bandaged with bloody wrappings and he had a limp; his weight balanced on a crooked branch he was using as a walking stick. "The mistress asked me to deliver this to you." He handed Jack a rolled up piece of parchment. It was held by a piece of red ribbon and sealed with wax, an imprinted icon pressed down into it.

Jack did nothing at first but look at it. Then he drew a claw through the wax seal and opened it. It was a letter written in their rune alphabet.

"My dear and devoted soldier…" He began out load reading it. "By the time this reaches you I will already be far away.

I lead my people obliviously into a trap and are capable of doing so again. I will not risk it by remaining in power and so I am abdicating." Jack was silent for a moment, his mouth hung open at that last word. He didn't even notice the felines gathering around him to listen. "I am turning over the reigns of leadership to you as clearly, as a cat respected by soldiers and villagers alike you are far more capable of the task than any of my bloodline."

By now Blaze was miles away, crossing the outskirts of the Mythic Ruins; following the setting sun westward; her new sword strap across her back. The swords she had written on the letter still repeating themselves in her mind and she found herself reciting them.

"The throne is your task, but I still need to find my own mission; my own journey; and I can not find it if I stay." She glanced up at the sky, a darkening blue with flaxen yellow, orange clouds slowly eclipsing the young golden sun. How could she have only seen the ugly side of this world before, missing all this? "I have diverted from Loki's path and I have to make me own."

"Please respect my wishes and do not try to come after me." Jack continued. "I know you will lead our people with honour.

Do not morn the lost. They have died in battle and have been admitted into the gates of Valhalla.

If I join them there one day is dependant on the path I choose now. You have been a commendable comrade who has maintained my honour through these trails and for that I am eternally grateful. Now I must use the chance you gave me to find my own destiny.

Your friend throughout time…. Blaze." He stopped reading and lowered his arms with a sigh. No one around him had the nerve to add anything to that.

* * *

---

"Sonic, are we expecting anyone?" Chris asked, glancing up from the communications seat on the Blue Typhoon's bridge. The blue hedgehog crossed over shaking his head.

"No why?"

"Several G.U.N ships are heading this way; they're escorting a civilian carrier. It's asking for permission to dock with us." Instantly Chris was surrounded by everyone on the bridge, looking over his shoulder at the screen. It showed that several vessels beaming out a G.U.N identity signal was rapidly approaching from the coast.

"It's got to be some kind of trick." Hare commented, distrustful of the military after they spent so long running from them.

"Nope." Vector replied with a smile spreading over his scaly lips. "Its looks like Mandarin wants to have a word."

Within minutes they could see them. A convoy of about five ships, four of them battleships belonging to the military space fleet and the one in the centre was a simple carrier for use in various airports. It had the G.U.N logo printed on it. Slowly it approached, leaving the escorting battleships behind at a distance to show did it not mean any harm.

"I thought General Saddler was…err… **_had been_**, the G.U.N Commander?" Bean asked looking a little confused.

"He was, but only in name." Topaz replied. "Sadler was little more than a figure head with a few hired thugs. But Mandarin is the one with the real official power. Once we busted Saddler for being Eggman's little flunky, Mandarin took the name and official position.

The Commander is the one who formed G.U.N in the first place, so you're going to find that a lot of the soldiers are almost fanatical in carrying out his orders."

Meeting the carrier as it landed was Okida, Topaz, Hare, Bean and Shadow, the others hanging back to watch; all of them armed just in case Hare was right and this was a trap of some kind. Void decided it was not in his best interests to make himself know to the 'powers that be' on this planet and made his scarce.

When their guests arrived onboard it appeared for a moment to be an invasion, several armed soldiers marching out first; followed by their commander.

Shadow blinked when he saw him. The two locked gazes on each other for a moment the black and red hedgehog saw creeping hate pass briefly over the humans' face. But it wasn't the look on the face that got him. It was the eyes.

One sea blue and the other chocolate brown. Shadow frowned. They seemed familiar but he could not pick out from his patchy memory from where. Slowly the commander turned his attention reluctantly away from the black and red hedgehog to face the others.

"Major Okida I believe."

"Former." The vampire bat corrected him. "I resigned." The commander forged a hurt look.

"I hope you did that because of Hexagon's policies and not because of G.U.N itself."

"I had other reasons as well." Okida looked him straight in the eye. "But you're not here to discuss my career choices."

"No of course not." Instead of talking there in the corridor they went to the bridge, where it was relatively more private. Jericho's soldiers went with him of course. Shadow wished they hadn't. He kept catching the commander sending him hostile glares. Why did he seem so familiar?

"These, are warrants issued for the arrest of the Blue Typhoon's crew." Jericho began once they arrived and one of the soldiers handed him a black file folder containing several pieces of paper. "They call for the immediate imprisonment of any and all people involved with the ship and the execution of the ringleader." He shot Okida a glance. "...which would be you." The vampire bat maintained a stern expression.

"And?"

"Why am I am here is quite simple." The commander replied. "I am dropping any and all charges these warrants contain." Without another word he tore them up in his hands. "You are being granted port access to all cities and naval stations in G.U.N territory and…" He reached into his uniform and withdrew what looked like a credit card. "This gives you access to a bank account we seized from one of the Hexagon bosses when we arrested him. He was hoarding a lot of cash illegally in it. It's now all yours." He flipped it up and it handed in Okida's hand. The vampire bat looked stunned.

"Exactly how much money are we talking about here?" Hare asked looking over Sonic's shoulder.

"I haven't been told the exact amount but it should cover the cost of the ships rearmaments and repairs." Considering how long they had gone without repairs that price figure had to be into the millions. Hare's mouth dropped and one should almost see his eyes spinning like fruit machines until they arrived with dollar signs. "The pin number is 5-6-0-2."

"Let me have it, let me have it!" Hare begged; struggling to catch the card away from Okida; who tossed slid it into his jacket pocket.

"What's the catch?" Topaz asked bluntly.

"No catch. You were unjustly persecuted and hunted. Think of this as my way of apologising." The commander said. "Oh; and we have a collection of combat mechs for you to chose from. Just in case any of your own were damaged by our forces."

"Why is he being so nice to us?" Amy asked. Those who hadn't met their boarding party were watching using the security cameras all over the ship.

"Because he wants to use us in the militaries plans to defend the Confederate invasion that's why." Chuck replied. "So he's giving us all these presents as bribes."

"And what a bribe!" Vector remarked. "Six million dollars? He must really want our help badly."

"So you guys are going to help us then?" Chris asked. The crocodile simply gave him a thumbs up.

"Who can say no to that much cash?"

"Not me." Espio replied without a moment's hesitation.

Seemingly satisfied with that, the commander made plans to leave; inviting the Blue Typhoon to follow them back and officially and legally re-enter American air space. The carrier unloaded the replacement Nova, Anubis and albatross mechs and once they were loaded into the hanger bay preparations were made to get underway.

Shadow did not like Jericho. The hedgehog could sense the strange feeling of displacement and de-ja-vu when around him. And the Commanders' clearly hostile attitude towards him did not help.

That was why he did not like the scenario when he found the two of them standing alone together at opposite ends of a corridor. They both froze, sight kept locked on one another. Neither of them blinked as that long silence endured.

"Out with it." The commander stated with a furrowed brow. Shadow's eyes followed him as he moved closer. "Why are you here?"

"I don't know what you mean." The hedgehog replied.

"Don't play games with me!" He snapped. "We both know you're not one of these guys." Shadow was silent. "You can strut about trying to be a good little super hero all you want but we both know that's not who you are. It's not what you were made for." The commander leaned in close. "I know what you are." He hissed. "You are your father's son."

"Just what do you know about the professor?" Shadow asked back now just as angry as Jericho.

"Enough." The human replied. "Enough to know he was a homicidal maniac that did nothing but create evil." He jabbed a finger in Shadow's direction. "Enough to know that you are the culmination of his madness when he sold his soul." Both of them grew silent, the anger in their faces refusing to leave. "While the now denounced General Saddler was the Commander of G.U.N officially, I have been its driving force for over forty years. I took over the title when he was exposed as a traitor." Jericho continued. "I welded G.U.N together into the organisation it is today because I knew I had to protect the world from evil's Robotnik created; the Biolizard, the Eclipse Cannon and of course, you!" Jericho's hand whipped around and almost instantly a gun was between his fingers. Shadow side stepped, his legs tensed ready to jump. That hostile moment only lasted a brief moment it was then the hedgehog saw that Jericho had no intention of firing.

"You're bluffing." He started with a cold smile.

"My hands are tied. The crew of this ship thinks you're an asset to them and I need good relations for my defence plans." The commander stated narrowing his eyes. "But if I ever get the chance." Jericho lowered his gun and turned away. "Don't think this is the end of it." With that he brushed past Shadow and walked away. Shadow watched him go, his eyes never leaving him for a moment until the Commander was completely out of sight.

"His hate is strong and his reasoning behind it personal." A voice stated. The hedgehog glanced back to see Tikal standing there behind him, her gaze kept past him after the embittered human commander. "I can no longer sense why exactly, but for you he holds nothing but contempt. He believes you are to blame for the suffering he endured so long ago."

"I only met him today." Shadow replied irritably.

"Sure of that?" Tikal asked giving him a side glance. "How much of your time on the ARK space colony do you recall, and how much of that can you be sure are not falsified by your creator?" In answer that question, Shadow found that he had no reply.

* * *

-

Blaze had been travelling for some time with no direction in mind. The sun had set and the stars were peeking through the sky one by one. Neither fatigue nor the need for sleep hindered her mind and she kept going, passing through the trees and bushes, going on and on. The unfamiliar world, so different from Fellena, was bothering her less and less now. The smells from the forest around whirling around her as she ran through them; becoming familiar with each one in turn.

Breaking through the bushes, she came to a stop on the almost white sand of a beach. The moon was shining above, its mechanical half absorbing most of the sunlight and darkening the night. She stopped there, breathing the sea air deeply; the wind lashing against the tide throwing her head fur back.

"You want to go, but have no destination in mind?" She glanced up and saw that hovering nearby over the sand was Void.

"It's my path." She replied. "I'll thread it even if I do not know the end." A brief smile passed over the imp like beings face.

"Then perhaps we should talk." Blaze said nothing, her gaze locked unblinkingly on him. "Magianryworld is concerned with the events on Fellena, and your discovery that Loki is the mastermind behind the scheme disturbs us.

Ragnarok, the 'real' Ragnarok, could be on the horizon."

"If you have it in your head that Ragnarok can be prevented then cast out that thought." She told him. "The battle of the gods is unavoidable."

"Perhaps." Void omitted. "But you've been known to be wrong before haven't you." Blaze adopted an unimpressed frown. "There are other gods besides the Asgard, who have no wish to see the end of all worlds. While you and your people would not shy away from the sight, I am certain you do not wish to see them destroyed." He offered her his hand. "This is a crisis where I need all the help I can get. Perhaps you might be interested?" Blaze stared at his hand. The water broke several times around her feet before she moved.

"You called the Giants something before." She began. "You called them…

"Titans…" Void breathed slowly, casting out a glance towards the horizon. "That is their name to us." He paused. "Their race, after all this time…." The very idea seemed implausible. They had been gone for eons; defeated and sealed away; at least according to the ancient legends. Well, legends by those as young as himself; but spoken history to the elders.

A spoken history that came from the mouth of Illumina herself but whose lips were known to utter a lie now and then.

Perhaps, it occurred to Void, the stories had simply been ancient propaganda and the Titans were not as defeated as the legends would have them think or if they had ever been defeated at all.

Regardless, if it was true; it was '_them'_; then it could only mean one thing.

The day they had feared for so long was almost upon them. 'Reckoning…' That was the word Sebastian had used before he was killed by his masters own creatures. The day of Reckoning was predicted long before Void's own birth as the day of ancient retribution.

With no being to serve as her polar opposite in their mythology, Illumina's adversary had always been the day of Reckoning and whose coming that signified.

"Void, are you there?" Lumina Flowlight's voice asked inside his head through the telepathic link they shared.

"Yes I am here." He replied thinking inward. "Have you arrived at Fellena yet?"

"Yes and it's just as bad as you said it was." Lumina showed through her eyes the devastation before her. The dragons, now without any food source at all had been forced to resort to cannibalism. They were tearing each other apart for the meat. The fallen pieces of the felines flying island were in the valley below her crashed into the ground scaring it. Some other agents were there taking samples from the fallen bodies, careful not to get too close in case they caught the virus. "I just don't understand how we missed this."

"I think I do." Void replied. "I have a few loose ends to tie up here before I go. I'll be dropping off the Black Arms cure for the virus on my way back to Maginaryworld."

"You're going back already?" Lumina sounded surprised.

"I have to have a word with the queen." He replied glancing up at Blaze. "I have someone here she's going to want to meet." The feline was watching him intently. "Well?" He asked out load. "Shall we go?"

"To plunge into the marching legions of the Giants in a vain attempt to stop them and to stand defiantly before Loki?" She asked. Void just nodded once. A smile spread over her face almost at once. "Lead on."

* * *

-

It came as no big surprise to Becoe and Decoe that dimension travel was added to Doctor Eggman's list of 'things-that-aren't-worth-inventing.' Right now, The Doctor decided the best thing for his nerve's was to play it safe.

Instead of working on anything ground breaking, he simply concentrated on the general output of the factories and ship yards on the Eggmoon. By the time the Confederates reached Earth, his Egg Fleet would be completely rebuilt.

Sitting in the main control room of his orbiting fortress, The Doctor watched the assembly line for his ships. Put together on the factory floor, the backbone of his feet was assembled by thousands of microscopic robots networked together and programmed with molecule construction. This system sped up production ten fold and allowed the Doctor to produce his ships and weapons almost as fast as Sonic could smash them down again.

Metal Sonic was the only one who had mastered using the nano-bots in any other way. The robotic hedgehog kept them inside his body and they were able to rearrange the molecules in his body to repair damage during battle. That was technology derived from Black Arm hardware and so far the Doctor had failed to comprehend just how it worked.

Still, before too long that was going to change.

"We have the deep space transmission link ready for you Doctor." Becoe told him and Eggman watched as a holographic screen appeared before him; the image buzzing with static. "Adjusting frequency…" The image blurred and twisted, before clarifying. Glaring back at the Doctor was a Fesonian; a reptilian race with green to black scaly skin; their eyes large and flaxen yellow, convexly curved.

"Just who are you?" The alien asked, his words being translated through the communications uplink; the subtitles appearing below in white letters.

"My name is Doctor Eggman." The doctor replied, his fingers interlocked in front of himself; the surface of his glasses gleaming in the light from the monitor. "Am I addressing the Admiral in charge of the Confederate Empire's sixth attack fleet?" The alien looked a little confused, wondering just what language was being used. Someone else on his end was busy translating and as soon as the words could be interrupted, a reply was sent back.

"I am Admiral Baal." The alien said simply straightening his shoulders. "Our sensors read that you are broadcasting from the planet we intend to attack. If you are communicating to negotiate peace terms then you are wasting both your time and mine." His arm moved to discontinue the com-link.

"Oh it's nothing like that." Eggman assured him quickly and the admiral stayed his hand.

"Then what do you want?" Baal demanded now irritated. The Doctor leaned forward, his face set in a thick evil sneer.

"Admiral; I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse."

* * *

-

Well, it wasn't so much a movie as a story between series. Sort of a Sonic Rush adaptation, with nothing to do with the rush plot… yeah well sue me. Feed back is appreciated.

Arcanum: Think, Sol Emerald from rush only less lame.

Ragnarok: I was trying for a redesigned version of Black Bull.

Nega-Eggman: Lame excuse for a new bad guy in my opinion and he conflicted with the story so he was cut out.

Fate of Cosmo: Ah you just wait and see… (I am king of the evil cliff hangers!)

Authors notes:

Coming soon is the final instalment of the series; Combine Wars. For a preview check my DeviantART Page. It'll feature stuff from of Sonic Riders, Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic OVA and a few surprises from Sonic X season 3. I'm going all out on this one so watch this space. It'll be ready for reading in March both here and on DeviantART.

Thanx for being such great reviewers.


End file.
